Goat, Sheep Farmers To Benefit From 4-Year Improvement Project
Posted by Unknown in Goat, Sheep, Trinidad and Tobago on Friday, 25 January 2013
Christopher Serju, Gleaner Writer
Goat
and sheep farmers in Jamaica and their counterparts in Trinidad and
Tobago are set to benefit from a recently launched four-year project
aimed at improving the production, productivity and quality of meat, as
well as the availability of breeding stock in both countries.
Funded
by the Common Fund for Commodities (CFC), the project which is being
implemented by the Caribbean Agricultural Research and Development
Institute (CARDI), the long-term objective is to enhance the income and
food security of small-ruminant farmers and meat processors, in the
process reducing the dependency on food imports.
 |
| This three-year-old Alpine ram seen at the Sam Motta Demonstration and Training Centre in Manchester |
During
a recent field trip, which included stops at a Ministry of Agriculture
facility in Hounslow, St Elizabeth, Sam Motta Training and Demonstration
Centre in Manchester and Bodles Research Centre, St Catherine,
stakeholders from Trinidad and Tobago got an opportunity to see the
conditions under which the animals would be reared, slaughtered and the
meat processed. They also got a chance to view some of the animals and
equipment to be utilised in the Diversification of the Caribbean
Livestock Sector through the Production of Small Ruminants project. The
trip included visits to a number of farms, including one in Clarendon
that will provide breeding stock for the programme which will also
include more integrated information and database systems.
Most
of the activities will be executed at Hounslow where the holding,
breeding and multiplication of stock to be distributed, training,
demonstration and attachment will take place. Operated by CARDI, the Sam
Motta Demonstration and Training Centre provides pure-bred and
cross-bred milk and goat-breeding stock for farmers who operate mainly
on mined-out bauxite lands. With a recently constructed goat dairy in
place, it will also serve as a pilot demonstration site. It also has an
integrated crops/livestock production system.
Demonstration Unit
At
Bodles, the visitors got a close-up look at the abattoir which is being
rehabilitated and equipped to handle processing of sheep and goat. The
facility will also act as a training and demonstration unit to be used
for training goat and sheep farmers.
This
first-hand take on the Jamaica operations allowed the visitors to
compare the many issues involved in rearing small ruminants in both
countries, with the president of the Trinidad and Tobago Goat and Sheep
Society (TTGSS), John Borely, identifying praedial larceny as a major
challenge for farmers in the twin-island republic.
"So
in order for farmers to really make money off small ruminants they have
to buy in at a larger scale. It means investing in housing, fencing,
all sorts of costly improvements, and they have to intensify operations
to protect animals. In order to do that, you need to have animals that
biologically are able to grow at a certain rate to justify your
investment," he shared with AgroGleaner.
He
explained: "So while the consumer in the Caribbean traditionally
prefers goat, for the farmer it is easier to make a profit off sheep
because sheep biologically grow faster. You can have a sheep ready to
market in six to eight months, (while) a goat will take 8-10 to get to
the same weight. So sheep have been the choice of the producer while
goat has traditionally been the choice of the consumer."
Describing
sheep as a more versatile meat than chevron (goat meat), Borely
explained that it has a greater potential for cooking in a variety of
ways.
"The
only way people eat goat is curried because it is a fat-less meat. It's
a very lean meat and in order to have it cooked and taste well you have
to marinate it. You have to slow cook, you have to cook it in oil to
get that kind of taste coming out. But sheep you can broil, grille,
barbecue, you can even curry, but it's a more versatile meat.
"The
carcass, also because it fills out more than goat, gives rounder rumps,
you can do more fancy cuts, loin cuts, leg cuts for the hotel and
tourist trade, people who want those kinds of grilled meats and so."
In
order to maximise the potential of the sheep market, the association
set up a branch to buy animals from farmers at higher prices than
before. The animals are then passed through a proper abattoir and into
the hands of a master butcher who "fabricates" the carcass into all
sorts of high-value cuts.
"It's
a fantastic success," he admitted. We started out with maybe one or two
animals per week and now we are up to 20 animals per week. We started
slowly but, once a supermarket (Super Quality Supermarket) bought into
it, they created a whole section with probably the best meat shop in the
region."
Borely
is hopeful that in addition to the technical information that will be
integral in areas such as dairy production, farmers will also get to
share best practices.
christopher.serju@gleanerjm.com
Full Caption
This
three-year-old Alpine ram seen at the Sam Motta Demonstration and
Training Centre in Manchester is a fine specimen of the animals which
will be used to upgrade the local goat stock in keeping with the aims of
a four-year project to be executed in Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago
over the next four years. The Caribbean Agricultural Research and
Development Institute is the executing agency for the project which will
be financed by the Common Fund for Commodities. - PHOTOs BY CHRISTOPHER
SERJU
