“We believe that trade builds wealth and we are
committed to helping find ways that a trade relationship between the US and
Jamaica works for Jamaican agriculture, too, and we are happy to see successful
Jamaican agriculture exports to the US. We hope to see that trade relationship
grow, and one of the things we hope to see grow in that is US exports as well”
US agricultural
attachÈ to the Dominican Republic, Haiti and Jamaica, Morgan Perkins on
America's desire to import Pork to Jamaica
Jamaica, American Pork may be coming to Jamaica!
So says the US agricultural attachÈ to the Dominican
Republic, Haiti and Jamaica, Morgan Perkins as reported in the article “Hogwash!
- US Wants Cut Of Local Pork Market But Jamaican Pig Farmers Say No”,
Published Sunday May 22, 2016 by Ryon Jones, The Jamaica Gleaner.
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This as Jamaicans are slowly becoming addicted to Pork
as can be seen from the success of Mother Enterprises Pork Patty as reported in
my MICO Wars Blog article
entitled “Why
Mother’s Pork Patty a hit in 2016 as Pork is now Popular”.
In fact, Jamaica currently has an ongoing Pork
Shortage since early April 2015 as reported in my blog article
entitled “Jamaican
now experiencing Pork Shortage – How Ready to Eat Pork causes Jamaicans to Love
Pork as Processors want imports”.
However, that's slowly being alleviated as Pig Farmers
and Pork Processors ramp up their output, with prices expected to increase in
the First Quarter of 2016 as reported in my blog article
entitled “Jamaican
Pig Farmers say Pork Shortage over but Meat Processors worried – Why Possible Pork
Price Profits for Pig Farmers this Christmas 2015”.
So is there really a Pork shortage in Jamaica?
US
want to sell their Pork in Jamaica - May introduce antibiotic resistant
super-bacteria to Jamaica
According to the President of Jamaica Pig Farmers'
Association (JPFA), Hanif Brown, the Pork shortage is overblown by the Americans,
as improved production means that the Pig Farmers and Meat processors are
meeting demand.
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In fact, they exporting Pork to CARICOM, albeit he has
no problem with US Pork, once it meets the criteria, to quote Hanif Brown:
“Nobody imports from us right now, outside of CARICOM, where we export hams and
stuff, but not fresh Pork and sometimes it is still a battle to get it in. I
don't have a problem if the US meets the criteria and say they want to export
some Pork, because what they can do is tell us that we can export some Pork,
too. Because maybe we have some Jamaicans overseas who want to buy some
Jamaican Pork instead of US Pork”.
He also point to the unfairness of the US of A; they
already make money from selling Jamaicans farming supplies and equiptment and
sows for breeding, not they want to partake in the Jamaican Pork Market, to
quote Hanif Brown: “The US and Canada, or any other first-world country for
that matter, shouldn't want to have their cake and eat it. The reason I say
that is because farmers spend a lot of money importing breeding stocks out of
Canada and equipment out of the US”.
This is quite true and unfair, as American and Canada
ALREADY sell us supplies to grow pigs; now they want to enter the Jamaican pig
market, putting local farmers using overpriced equiptment against cheaper
imports form the US of A, to quote Hanif Brown: “So to invest our money buying
equipment, corn and soya, plus premix out of the US to facilitate the farming
of pigs, and then when you are finish now the farmers must compete again with
importation of the finished products out of the US, that's having your cake and
eating it”.
Good to note too that the American use antibiotics to
fatten their pig and cows, making them grow much faster, but also creating drug
resistant bacteria in the process.
Thus import to Jamaica may introduce drug resistant
strains of bacteria such as salmonella and e-coli to Jamaica thanks to
America's overuse of anti-biotics as the video below illustrates.
To this end, keeping out American imports will keep us
disease free, to quote Hanif Brown: “We pride ourselves that the industry is
free of disease or certain disease that can be detrimental. Take the US, for
example, that had a disease last year and the year before, porcine epidemic
diarrhoea virus, that though it does not affect human beings wiped out an
entire farm overnight. So you have disease that will wipe out our investment,
so we have to protect ourselves from all of them”.
Caribbean
Broilers Group Know Your Pork Campaign - $73.4 billion worth of jobs to be
lost
Then there is the loss of jobs, as Pork importation
steals some JA$73.4 billion worth of jobs from Jamaica as reported in the
article entitled “Know
Your Pork - CB Moves to Educate Jamaicans about the Other White Meat”,
Published Wednesday May 18, 2016, by Christopher Serju, The Jamaica Gleaner.
For this reason the Caribbean Broilers Group has
started a Know Your Pork Campaign to teach consumers to recognize locally
produced Pork. This by looking for the labeling that identified Jamaican Pork
as being produced locally and in a sustainable manner. Copper wood Pork is one
of the first branded Pork producers in Jamaica and with their success with
Mother’s use of their product in Pork Patties, it’s expected we'll see more Pork
products on the market.
One such product is their Pork Sausage line seasoned
with Spur Tree Spices as reported in the article “Copperwood
Adds New Sausage Line”, Published Wednesday March 18, 2015, The Jamaica Gleaner.
Island Grill has even added a pulled Pork wrap to its
menu offerings based on Copperwood Pork products.
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Copper wood Pork made a great showing of their Pork,
with a celebrity chef at their Making the Cut Seminar using their Pork to make
test meat, it's hard to think otherwise.....if you like Pork!!!
The hope is that by making Jamaicans recognize the
quality of our local Pork, despite the higher costs, when compared to any
illegal imported variants. In so doing, they choose to consume it in preference
to cheaper imported Pork, thereby preserving the local Pig and Pork Economies
from Job losses and Antibiotic Resistant Superbacteria!
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