Goat rearing vibrant despite Melissa setback

Some Jamaican farmers are showing renewed interest in the rearing of goats despite the setback that many in the sector have faced following the passage of Hurricane Melissa, even while consumer demand for local mutton is expected to be muted over the holiday season.

More than 3,500 goats were lost during the hurricane that devastated the island on October 28, but farmers are determined to rebuild their goat houses with more resilience, while acquiring different breeds to increase meat and milk output.

The College of Agriculture Science and Education, CASE, is playing a role in developing the small ruminant sector, which consists of goats and sheep. Currently, the Portland-based institution has 147 goats in quarantine which the college imported from the United States last month on behalf of several farmers from different parts of the island.

“We have imported several breeds, such as Boers, Nubians, Tottenburger, Saanen, Kiko and Alpine. They are from Kentucky, Ohio and Illinois (in the United States),” President of CASE Dr Derrick Deslandes told the Financial Gleaner.

He said Boers, Kiko and Nubians are bred primarily for their meat, while the others are milk producers.

CASE began its recent round of goat importation in 2022, months after the announcement of the Ministry of Agriculture’s Small Ruminant Development Programme to upgrade the genetics of local stock of goats and sheep in order to improve the yields of meat and milk.

“Improving the breeding quality of our goats will facilitate faster growth rates and potentially set us up for export down the road. We are providing better genetics to the local farming community with a view to becoming a supplier of breeding animals for the rest of the Caribbean,” Deslandes said.

The CASE president said the cost of the imported goats range from US$500 to US$3,000.

The importation programme has resulted in better quality animals being displayed at events such as the annual Denbigh Agricultural, Industrial & Food Show in Clarendon, he added.

Director of Veterinary Services in the Ministry of Agriculture Fisheries and Mining, Dr Sophia Ramlal, said the importation of the goats by CASE is timely in light of the losses sustained by many farmers coming out of Melissa.

“Even though the importation was planned before, it is good that these goats have come in now, because they are even more valuable to improving our local stock. The programme has not been derailed by Melissa at all, and we are moving ahead to import more goats (that are) expected to arrive in January and February,” Ramlal said.

Meanwhile, Principal Director of the ministry’s Agricultural Marketing Information and Incentives Branch, Kevin Condappa, said that 3,560 small ruminants were lost in the hurricane, which encompasses both sheep and goats.

Condappa said while most of the losses were incurred in the five western parishes, there were also reports of significant losses of the animals in St Ann and St Mary.

The parishes that rear the greatest numbers of goats are Westmoreland, Manchester, Clarendon, St Catherine and St Mary. Westmoreland is one of the western parishes devastated by Hurricane Melissa at the tail end of October.

President of the Small Ruminants Association of Jamaica Trevor Bernard said he expects the demand for local goats to be reduced this Christmas because of subdued celebrations of the holiday season.

Curried mutton, or ‘curry goat’, is a favourite Jamaican dish. Additionally, the entrails of the animal are the main component of an equally popular soup, called ‘mannish water’, that is often a staple at parties and family feasts.

“I think that people are not going to spend that much this year. I think people are going to tighten their belts and go low key this Christmas. I don’t think there will be a lot of parties, dance, and that sort of thing. But I think we will be alright with the supply of goats,” he said.

Bernard said the goat rearing sector was dominated by small players with fewer than 500 goats, and that there were no larger farmers with thousands of animals.

Amid reports of widespread damage to goat houses, Ramlal said the Rural Agricultural Development Authority, an agency of the Ministry of Agriculture, has a programme to assist farmers to build goat houses that are more resilient to extreme weather events.

In the last Economic and Social Survey of Jamaica produced by the Planning Institute of Jamaica for year 2024, overall production of livestock contracted by 5.7 per cent relative to 2023.

Sheep production declined by 46.2 per cent in 2024 to 140 head, while goat production was down 6.8 per cent to 25,593 head.

Estimates are that about 15 per cent of the meat used for the popular curry goat dish comes from local animals, and retails for about $2,000 per pound.

However most of the curry goat consumed is actually imported mutton, which sells for about half the price of the local product.

luke.douglas@gleanerjm.com