‘There will be enough pork for Christmas’

THE JAMAICA Agricultural Society (JAS) has said there will be adequate supply of pork for the upcoming Christmas season. President of the JAS, Norman Grant, said pig farmers are now producing to meet 60 per cent of local demand and will be able to provide sufficient fresh meat to the general market, as well as to ham processors.

Grant was speaking at the launch of ‘Eat Jamaican’ Month on November 2 at the JAS head office, downtown Kingston.

The celebrations, under the theme ‘Grow What We Eat, Eat What We Grow’, is in partnership with the Ministry of Industry, Commerce, Agriculture and Fisheries.

Grant said the JAS will be using the observance to intensify its promotion of local foods leading up to the Christmas holidays.

He said the JAS is in discussion with the Tourism Linkages Hub in the Ministry of Tourism to form a partnership to promote the initiative in the sector.

CAMPAIGN FEEDBACK

He noted that the campaign has achieved positive results since it was launched in 2003.

“When we launched the campaign, we were growing imports by a weighted average of US$100 million per annum. Subsequent to the launch of the campaign, that decreased from US$100 million to US$60 million. The Eat Jamaican campaign has saved the Jamaican economy in excess of US$400 million,” he said.

The JAS president reiterated his call for consumers to support farmers by buying local produce in order to further reduce the food-import bill, which is now under US$900 million.