Hanna bats for organic chicken farming

Opposition lawmaker Lisa Hanna has called for a rethinking of the import duty regime on chicken and chicken parts.

Hanna, the member of parliament for St Ann South East, in making her contribution to the State of the Constituency Debate in the House of Representatives on Tuesday, said that the Government should consider reducing the import duty and shift focus on incentivising the local production of organic birds.

"The duty on whole chicken or chicken parts is 250 per cent to prevent importation because successive administrations say this will build the local chicken production. Still most Jamaicans cannot afford to buy a chicken at $200-$250 per pound. Even though the international cost of corn has gone back down, our local chicken prices have not. Could a better plan be to reduce the duty to 100 per cent - collect some duty - and use that money collected to provide free chicken to small and backyard farmers to raise organic chickens and produce organic jerk chicken delicacies for export?" Hanna quizzed.

The four-term MP said that organic chicken meat is sold for about $750 per pound on the local market.

"We could kill three birds with one stone, we could reduce the cost of meat protein for Jamaicans, develop a viable export niche market, and assist our rural women especially with viable opportunities," the MP added.

In the meantime, Hanna has wondered aloud whether too much money is being spent on the dead rather than on the living. She noted that only about 20 of the nearly 250 funeral homes now operating in Jamaica are certified embalmers in Jamaica.

"The Constituency Development Fund has mandated a five per cent allotment of $1 million out of the $20 million allocation towards welfare assistance to persons. So far, we have spent close to $881,653 in South East St Ann assisting persons with funeral expenses from this allocation. Additionally, I have spent my fair share of time and personal resources assisting many of my constituents with these expenses in an unregulated environment," the MP said.

She questioned whether the money being spent on funeral assistance would not be best used for training, job creation and other human development projects. Hanna also said that it is time to replace the old Burial and Cremation Act (1963) with modern funeral home regulations to ensure consumers at all levels are protected while getting value for money.