2 months ago
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Goat meat produced in Jamaica makes up a fraction of the market, but farmers of the livestock are positioning to rebalance the mix of local and imported mutton.
It is estimated that local farmers supply only 15 per cent of the demand for goat meat. At a conservative price of $1,500 per pound for mutton, goat farming can be big business once attention is paid to animal care, security, and marketing, the industry’s chief spokesman says.
“The last statistic we had from RADA showed that we are only producing 15 per cent of what we consume, which means that 85 per cent is imported sheep meat carcasses (mutton), which are brought here cheaply, so we need to push up the production,” said Trevor Bernard, president of the Small Ruminants Association of Jamaica.
The association usually has about 500 paid-up members rearing mainly goats, but also sheep and rabbits, but speaks for all ruminant farmers in Jamaica, estimated at more than 56,000, including everyone with a couple of goats in their backyard, Bernard said.
Goat meat is more accurately called chevon, but what is imported is mutton, which is used to prepare ‘curry goat’, a popular dish for Jamaicans. Other parts of the goat, the head and entrails, are used for soup, otherwise called mannish water, which is a repast for parties, wakes, and funerals.
A prize buck, for breeding and exhibit at animal shows, is sold for as much as $400,000, says Maxine Brown, livestock specialist at the Rural Agriculture Development Authority, an agency of the Ministry of Agriculture.
Bernard puts the price for the live animal at $750 per pound but says it doubles to $1,500 when slaughtered and prepared for market.
A goat ready for the market can weigh 30 to 100 pounds depending on the breed. A 50-pound animal sells for about $37,500.
In July 2023, the Jamaican Government temporarily suspended the consumption tax, GCT, on the importation of live small ruminants, as well as pigs and racehorses, in an effort to bolster the genetic stock and improve food security.
The Ministry of Agriculture has not responded to requests for information on how many animals have been imported since then.
However, information garnered from the trade map of the International Trade Centre indicates that US$645,000 worth of live goats was imported from the United States in 2023, up from US$62,000 in 2022.
Brown said that “the importation initiative is up and running”, with the ministry itself having “brought in over 200 goats” recently.
The livestock specialist noted that most of the animals were imported from the United States as extra care was taken to source the animals from countries that Jamaica had clearance to import livestock to mitigate against bringing diseases into the country.
“Some farmers have brought in goats by themselves while others have partnered with CASE to bring them in as a group. The ministry is also looking at other initiatives to enable other farmers to participate,” Brown told the Financial Gleaner. CASE refers to the College of Agriculture Science and Education, based in the parish of Portland.
Goats continue to be the target of thieves, but some goat farmers are getting smarter, housing their animals in pens and taking their feed to them rather than allowing them to forage openly in the field.
“In times past, people would just tie their goats by the roadside”, but given the prices that the animals can fetch, those who rear them “have become more sophisticated. Farmers are looking at what production systems are best for them,” Brown said.
Through a bilateral agreement between Jamaica and Mexico, RADA is training farmers in all aspects of goat rearing, including the construction, maintenance, and sanitation of goat units and the care and feeding of the animals, she added.
Bernard, a goat farmer from his boyhood, whose herd fluctuates between 20 and 400 animals, says farmers need to be serious about protecting their investment.
“I tell people: ‘If you had $2 million, would you leave it in the bush and come back tomorrow and expect to see it there? You can’t allow your goats out in the bush and wait for them to come back in the evening’,” he said.
English (US) ·