Hugh Martin
NO ONE ever relishes the thought of 'eating his words'. I have found myself in that unusual situation but I will happily do so.
In my column of March 8, 2002, entitled 'Pork: the other white meat', I presumptuously suggested to Minister of Agriculture Roger Clarke that he abandon his expressed intention of restructuring the pig industry. My advice was based on the boom and bust trend that marked the historical development of the industry over the past half a century. All other ministers of agriculture before him had had their share of failure with similar attempts and I sought to spare him the same embarrassment.
Well, Minister Clarke didn't take my advice. But now he can make his exit anytime he feels like, knowing that history will be kind to him, for he will leave behind at least one major success story. The pig industry has been restructured and most if not all the factors that contributed to the roller- coaster effect of the past have been eliminated. As an unapologetic pork eater, I feel no embarrassment in admitting that in that particular case, I may have been talking hogwash. Indeed, I am more than pleased with the exciting developments that have been taking place in the industry over the past three or so years.
The first step in the restructuring exercise was securing the cooperation of all the stakeholders. This included pig farmers, breeders, processors and marketers. The next step was the establishment of a pig industry development committee which was charged with the responsibility of identifying the problems, finding solutions, developing the restructuring programme and overseeing its implementation. Led by Dr. Keith Amiel, manager, corporate affairs of Caribbean Broilers Group (which includes Newport Mills and Newport Genetics) the committee, without fanfare, set about its work and quietly is producing a small miracle.
GENETICS THE MAJOR PROBLEM
As Dr. Amiel has described it, the major problem that plagued the industry was a matter of genetics and not what was generally believed to be the case: Too many producers leading to oversupply or the consequence of that, too few, leading to scarcity and high prices.
The Jamaican pig had simply lost its way. Because of inbreeding over a long period of time, it had deteriorated in size and was incapable of producing the quality meat required by the market. As a consequence, all the bacon, ham, frankfurters and all the other sausages that were produced for the hotels and supermarkets were based on imported pork.
Interestingly, a survey commissioned by the committee revealed that 51 per cent of Jamaicans eat and love pork, but that it was available to them only once every two weeks, and in small quantities.
This is in contrast to chicken meat which is available everywhere and in adequate supplies. Dr. Amiel shared another bit of statistics with me which I found even more interesting. It is that pork is the most eaten meat in the world. Forty-three per cent of all the meat that humans eat is pork. Chicken meat consumption is only 23 per cent.
And that is where the true potential of a well- developed pork industry lies. We have a vibrant and rapidly expanding tourist industry which has strong linkages with the farming sector.
Most of the food used by the hotels and restaurants is of local origin and only where an adequate and consistent supply is unavailable is it replaced by imports. Most of the tourists come from countries where 43 per cent of their diet is pork. There is hardly any breakfast served which does not include pork in one of its forms whether it is ham, bacon or sausage. And the other meals throughout the day are equally dependent on some form of pork.
With this information in hand, the way forward was clear to the committee so they set about remaking the local pig. This was done by importing genetic material from Canada - the largest exporter of high-quality pork in the world - to use in the upgrading process.
The material was taken from the 10 per cent at the top of the Canadian herd. According to Dr. Amiel, what has been created in Jamaica is a core of breeding pigs that is probably higher than the average quality herd found in Canada itself.
The results of the breeding programme are stunning. A few thousand pigs that have been produced so far, grow twice as fast as the local pigs and are expected to produce at least 100 pounds more meat and a quarter of the back fat at time of slaughter. It is not too soon to say: Well done.
Hugh Martin is a communication consultant and farm broadcaster who may be reached at humar@cwjamaica.com.
