WITH SHEEP meat imports reaching over $560 million annually, the Ministry of Agriculture, through its Agricultural Support Services Project (ASSP), is spending $18.7 million to boost sheep production locally in an effort to reduce imports.
Fifty Dorper sheep have been imported from Arizona in the United States at a cost of $6.8 million to improve the local stock and increase production to 54,913 kilogrammes in the first year and 282,863 kilogrammes in five years.
According to Agriculture Minister Roger Clarke, "The demand for lamb stands at 150,000 kilogrammes per annum, while current production figures are averaging a mere 9,200 kilogrammes per annum."
STATE-OF-THE-ART SHEEP BREEDING SYSTEM
Mr. Clarke announced that in addition to the ASSP, establishing a state-of-the-art sheep breeding and fattening production system to improve the local stock and increase production of sheep meat, the abattoir at the Bodles Research Station is to be renovated, a modern waste disposal system is to be built, new technology is to be used to improve production and efficiency, and 30 farmers are to be trained in sheep disease and small business management.
The Agriculture Minister, who was speaking at the handing-over of the first set of sheep recently at the Ministry's Plant Quarantine and Export complex at Palisadoes, East Kingston, noted that the viability of the local industry was being affected by inadequate breeding stock, the lack of certifiable sanitary slaughtering facilities, the lack of a base breeding facility and the lack of a proper marketing arrangement.
