THE NEWLY-FORMED Beef and Dairy Farmers' Association of Jamaica (BADPAJ) is seeking to reverse the dramatic decline of the island's beef and dairy industries with the creation of a vibrant business-driven cooperative that would produce, package and market its own products to consumers.
But first the association is hoping to turn around the fortunes of the industries with a US$36 million ($2.34 billion) capital injection, US$31 million of which it is seeking from Government. "It will be like a no-interest loan because this will now be used to invest in milk (and beef) farms which will help farmers and help develop the industry," Balteanus Duffus, project director of BADPAJ explained.
It expects to generate the other US$5 million from farmers' contributions and services.
PROPOSAL
He said a proposal has been submitted to the Ministry of Agriculture and Land, which has forwarded it to the Minister of Finance, Dr. Omar Davies for approval before it is brought to Cabinet for final consideration.
Speaking at his post-budget presentation press conference last Thursday, Agriculture and Land Minister Roger Clarke said financing for the project would have to be sought through programmes of assistance for poverty alleviation from international aid agencies.
The Ministry of Agriculture has already given $5 million to BADPAJ for the establishment of a secretariat, which is based at the Ministry's Hope Gardens, St. Andrew office.
The efforts of the newly-formed association follow closely on a study, commissioned by the Jamaica Livestock Association in 2005, which showed that the livestock industry declined by a drastic 50 per cent since 1990.
Mr. Duffus explained that the aim of the cooperative is to bring the dairy and beef farmers together in an effort to rebuild and manage the sectors to ensure sustainability. He said each farmer who becomes a member of the cooperative would be allowed to put in a maximum of 10 cattle into the facility where they would be nurtured to maturity. Each farmer would be required to work at least five days per month at the facility.
DAIRY ANIMALS
In the case of dairy animals, BADPAJ would harvest, process, package and distribute the milk. Mr. Duffus said the cooperative was also aiming to produce cheese, yoghurt and other value-added dairy products from the milk harvested. In the case of animals reared for meat, he said they would be slaughtered at an internationally certified abattoir where the meat would be prepared and packaged in choice cuts, after which it would be marketed and distributed to consumers.
He said each animal would be tagged with an electronic tracking device to identify and monitor their progress from the time they arrived to maturity. He explained that each animal would be given a unique code and "you would be able to identify the farmer relative to the animal." This would allow for easy calculation of the yield from the animal as well as the upkeep cost for the animal. The farmer would then be paid the difference between the yield and the cost of rearing the animal.
Mr. Duffus pointed out that this would result in increased benefits for the farmer as it would free him or her of the burden of putting up the infrastructure for rearing the animals, installing the mechanisms to maintain quality and reduce the security risks and costs brought about by praedial larceny. He said the cooperative would put in place insurance for the animals.
