Recognising that the poultry processing market is underserved and will see a heightened demand within the next few years, businessman Terrence Campbell is preparing to invest US$1M in a farm, hatchery and plant at Pearl, East Bank Demerara.
The business venture, he said, is in no way connected to Camex Restaurants, which is the franchise holder of fast food outlets such as Church’s and Mario’s Pizza.
Campbell is of the view that the processing market remains underserved with only two major players: Bounty Farms and Royal Chicken.
“On the processing side we haven’t been seeing any expansion there. So it is an area we want to focus on. We want to process chickens to an international food safety standard…We want to exploit the market from that front and be a part of eliminating a shortage cycle”, he added.
While the project will focus heavily on the processing of broiler birds for the market, it is his intention to support and empower independent farmers.
“We are hoping through this project to empower small and independent farmers, especially from the minority group. These small farmers often have the challenge of not finding a market so we want to help with eliminating that challenge,” Campbell told Stabroek News yesterday afternoon.
Having been in the daily operations of managing Church’s Chicken, he said he has had a firsthand experience of how a poultry shortage or a saturated market can be a challenge to operations.
Aware of those issues and with the developing oil and gas and hospitality sectors, Campbell said that demand for processed birds will increase.
He said that the business idea had been conceptualised long before the majority ownership in Camex Restaurants was sold and said that operations should start up by the third quarter of 2022.
Campbell said the scale of the project will be small at startup but he has already secured lands for possible expansion when the need arises.
With the intention of having the project headquartered at Pearl, Campbell said that they have already secured properties in central Georgetown to serve as retail and wholesale outlets.
The business, Camex Broiler Breeders Inc in September applied for environmental permits from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
Upon approval, Campbell said they will move forward with the purchasing of equipment for the facility.
The facilities will be constructed on five acres of agricultural lands behind Pearl Village. They will comprise a 2800 sq. ft. hatchery, a 13000 sq. ft. single-story poultry processing facility and a rearing area.
The plant will be designed to hatch eggs and rear and process chickens for meat production for at least 20 years. The project will focus on the growing need for healthy chicken meat to supply the local market, the EPA project summary stated.
During the construction phase of the project it is estimated that employment will be generated for 40 persons while operations will cater for full-time employment of 10.
Based on projections, each week the facility will process between 4,000 to 6,000 chickens. The processing will be done at least two to three times per week. The expected monthly volume of production is pegged at 64,000 to 96,000 pounds of chicken. Processed chicken will be packaged whole and cut into pieces for offsite retail and wholesale.
It has been proposed that waste will be managed to reflect the principles of sound environmental management in accordance with established environmental regulations to prevent and mitigate negative impacts to the environment.
“A centrifuge system will be used to manage both solid and liquid waste. Solid and liquid waste from processing activities will be drained into a wastewater treatment facility onsite where it will pass through a centrifuge. This system separates the solid waste from the liquid waste,” the developer said in the EPA project summary posted on its website.
Further, separated solid waste which includes feathers, internal organs and fats will either be bagged and given to pig rearers as food for their pig stock or collected and disposed of by an EPA compliant waste disposal company or composted.
Remaining wastewater will be treated and discharged via pipes into the drainage canal behind the facility which drains into the Demerara River.
