Jamaicans urged to rear goats

The Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Mining wants more farmers to get involved in goat rearing.

Portfolio Minister Floyd Green said the small ruminant sector in Jamaica needs support to meet the local demand.

"We love our curried goat, but about 80 per cent of that is imported. Often it is mutton or sheep. We are not meeting our demand for our local goat. We have a project now to push that, so we want to encourage everybody to get involved in our small ruminant sector," he said.

More than 1,000 goats have been imported into the island since April of last year under the National Small Ruminant Development Programme, which is geared towards rapidly increasing the population of primarily goat and sheep.

Green reiterated the Government's support of the small ruminant sector on the island.

"The Ministry of Finance worked with us, and so we took off GCT and duty costs for persons who want to bring in goats to strengthen their breeding stock. We also have an artificial insemination programme now to drive the massive expansion of our goat herds," he said.