Chris Levy

Shelly-Ann Thompson, Staff Reporter

The announcement this week that there will be an increase in the price of chicken meat, the third in less than five months, has not gone down well with mothers.

Single mothers told The Gleaner it was becoming extremely difficult to provide nutritional meals to school-age children as food prices increase and salaries remain constant.

Jamaica Broilers, one of the island's leading suppliers of chicken meat, said the increasing cost of the product is due to the escalating price of feeds, such as corn, on the world market.

Chris Levy, senior vice president at Jamaica Broilers, said that, at the end of last week, corn was sold at US$7.20 a bushel.

Corn accounts for some 50 per cent of the cost of supplying chicken in the marketplace, the company said.

The price of corn broke past the US$7 barrier for the first time Wednesday.

"We are into new grounds," Levy said. "It's a little scary."

Jamaica Broilers' chicken meat will hike by three to five per cent in another week or two, said Levy. Currently chicken meat is sold for about $130 per lb.

Sales of another Jamaican favourite, bread, have decreased by an average of 15 per cent, said the Jamaica Bakers' Association.

Advertising campaign

The association said it would embark on a cooperative advertising campaign about the nutritional value of bread to encourage more Jamaicans to eat the staple.

According to Charlene Powell, mother of two, "with two teenage children, both attending high schools, the easiest breakfast is a meat of choice with bread in the mornings".

She noted that, having to leave the house by 6:15 a.m., her children consume a lot of bread because a bread-based breakfast is easy to prepare. However, within the past few weeks, Powell has scaled down to buying one instead of two loaves of bread each week.

She buys a popular brand of bread for $189, exclusive of general consumption tax.

"That bread lasts for two days," said Powell. "But I can't afford to buy another one."

Angela Martin, guardian of three children - all under age 16, loves a slice of bread with sausages and eggs for breakfast.

Three loaves per week of hard dough sliced bread have dwindled to only one for the three boys.

"The bread now costs $173. I can't afford to buy three again," said Martin.

The decrease in bread purchases, for Martin, began about a month ago.

The single parent also said chicken will now only be bought for Sunday dinner.

shelly-ann.thompson@gleanerjm.com