Poultry production in the Caribbean islands
The main poultry producer in the Caribbean islands is the Dominican Republic, which registered a record production in the second half of 2021 of 18 million chicken. According to the Dominican poultry association, they expect to increase their production up to 19 million chickens per month. 1.2 million kg of chicken are sent to the market daily, mainly for domestic consumption...

The Caribbean islands also called Antilles or Insular America, is one of the 4 subcontinents of America, formed by two archipelagos: Greater Antilles and Lesser Antilles. They are in the Caribbean Sea of the Atlantic. All the islands of the Antilles together have a total area of about 299.000 km².
The main poultry producer in the Caribbean islands is the Dominican Republic, which registered a record production in the second half of 2021 of 18 million chicken. According to the Dominican poultry association, they expect to increase their production up to 19 million chickens per month. 1.2 million kg of chicken are sent to the market daily, mainly for domestic consumption.
Year after year, the sector continues its transformation towards the production under a controlled environment. This will reduce the mortality of farms by 28%. They are also gradually reducing the use of antibiotic growth promoters and chemical preservatives, applying technologies that are already used in many countries, such as pronutrients and preservatives based on the cimenol ring.
According to data from the Dominican Association of Poultry Farmers (ADA), there are about 400 egg producers (including small, medium and large farms), the stock of laying hens is around 11.5 million and they are sold under 10 commercial brands. 216.7 million eggs are produced monthly. From those, 184.2 million are distributed in the domestic market and about 32.5 in Haiti. Per capita consumption is of 210 eggs.
Puerto Rico knew how to produce 450 million kg of chicken annually in the 1980s. Currently, 10% of the demand is covered with one local company, and 90% of the demand is supported by importation.
Referring to leading companies, the most important producers in the Caribbean islands are in Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago. These companies have been investing in new technologies including tunnel-ventilated controlled-environment buildings and processing plants.
The Caribbean Poultry Association seeks that most of the small islands could be self-sufficient in poultry production through awareness, creation of joint ventures, development of human resources, direct investments, dissemination of information and technology transfer. The main limitation that the Caribbean islands have is the production of grain, as they depend almost exclusively on imports. Grain-producing countries have taken advantage of this situation, as they want to provide the feed ingredients but certain processed cuts, generating oppression in the local market.
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