- CONTRIBUTED
This chick finds a resting place on the shoulder of Clelia Barreto deHunter, Consul of Ecuador.
HEADS OF several missions in Jamaica recently toured the facilities in St. Catherine operated by the Jamaica Broilers Group.
Among the diplomats on tour were: His Excellency Peter Mathers, British High Commissioner and wife Elisabeth; Her Excellency, Joycelyn Sawyers Royal, Costa Rican Ambassador; Mr. Jorge Alfonso Morales, Minister Counsellor at the Colombian Embassy; Madame Wang Xiaoju, wife of the Chinese Ambassador to Jamaica; Mrs. Yue Yuanyuan, wife of Liu Wei, Attaché at the Chinese Embassy; Mr. Rodney Marcellus, Minister Counsellor at the Haitian Embassy; Her Excellency, Gicela Garcia Rivera, Cuban Ambassador and Her Excellency, Clelia Barreto deHunter, Consul of Ecuador.
CUDDLING CHICKS
At approximately 8:30 a.m., SUVs, bearing the special yellow licence plates reserved for diplomats, rolled into the White Marl complex, home of both Hi Pro/ACE Farm and Garden Centre and the Jamaica Broilers Hatchery. On hand to welcome the visitors were Jamaica Broilers executives: Robert Levy, president and CEO; Chris Levy, senior vice-president for poultry operations; Richard Broderick, managing director of Hi Pro/ACE; Leon Headley, vice-president for procurement and trading and David Taylor, manager of the Jamaica Broilers Hatchery.
The tour began at the hatchery, where the diplomats donned white overcoats, disposable caps and plastic shoe coverings before entering the hatchery, where the women in the group cooed and cuddled the day-old chicks. And before setting off in an air-conditioned bus for Spring Village, they browsed the adjoining Hi Pro/ACE store. Men showed more interest in the hardware sections, while the women rushed to the greenhouse with cameras to capture the exotic potted plants in the rich colours of spring.
PRESIDENT PRAISED
The 20-minute journey from White Marl, via the Spanish Town leg of the Highway to Spring Village, had the diplomats declaring their admiration to the president of Jamaica Broilers for the world-class facilities run by his company and the social programmes which his organisation has established in the village, which has been home to the Best Dressed Chicken Processing Plant for over 40 years.
Mid-day snacks and warm handshakes from the staff - led by Steve Palmer, plant manager and David Mair, vice-president for marketing -greeted the special guests who afterwards walked through the processing plant and the co-generating unit, which supplies the entire plant with electricity.
The day ended with lunch in the board room of the Jamaica Broilers head offices at McCooks Pen where the diplomats dined on fish, chicken and beef produced by the Jamaica Broilers Group. But, on learning that the lake on the property was home to a family of crocodiles, many rushed to lakeside to catch a glimpse of one which was basking in the mid-day sun.
