27 July 2023
On 13 May 2023, the Environment, Natural Resources & Planning Portfolio (ENRP) received a batch of 1000 Dekalb-Amberlink breed day-old chicks.
As per biosecurity requirements, the chicks underwent a four week period of quarantine and were released for sale to the public on 12 June 2023.
It is ENRP policy for the provision of chicks for egg production that priority for purchase of chicks is given to commercial producers. However, the contribution to the supply of eggs across the Island by smallholders is also acknowledged, and therefore a number of chicks were allocated to these producers.
Persons had to register their interest in purchasing chicks by completing an application form which was assessed against a criterion. Orders were then fulfilled based on a points system.
The overall demand for the day old chicks was 2,481 with a total of 130 applications received. Of these, 27% were from commercial producers and 73% from smallholders.
In line with current policy, priority was given to commercial producers, with all commercial producers receiving at least 50% of their requested chick numbers. Of the 1000 chicks, 80% were allocated to commercial producers and 20% to smallholders. Due to the level of requests, on this occasion it was not possible to provide any one producer with the full complement of chicks requested.
The total cost to ENRP to import and then quarantine the chicks was £6,209.94. The chicks were sold at £3.00 per chick, meaning SHG applied a subsidy of 52%. SHG absorbed much of the costs associated with the importation and quarantine of the chicks in an attempt to keep the end user price down. This is in line with the SHG Vision and Strategy to facilitate actions to improve our self-sufficiency in local fresh egg supply for the community and to encourage local production so that people have access to sustainable supplies of fresh produce.
#StHelena #DayOldChicks #ENRP
SHG
27 July 2023