Against the backdrop of a heated debate over extended tariff waivers for imported eggs, the head of Jamaica’s leading egg farming advocacy group has issued a stark warning about the long-term economic dangers of excessive dependence on foreign agricultural imports, calling for intentional, values-aligned collaboration to strengthen local food production.
Mark Campbell, president of the Jamaica Egg Farmers’ Association (JEFA), delivered his remarks at the 2025/2026 University of Technology (UTech) Western Campus Seminar hosted at Montego Bay’s Sea Gardens Beach Resort. The event, centered on the theme “Bridging Minds, Building Futures: Igniting Innovation through Collaboration”, featured Campbell’s analysis of how collective action can advance Jamaica’s agricultural sector, titled “Feeding the Nation Together: The Role of Collaboration in Advancing Jamaica’s Agricultural Sector”.
In unflinching remarks, Campbell argued that the allure of cheap imported food masks devastating long-term consequences for developing economies like Jamaica. “I fundamentally and without apology submit that the road of importation is broad, beautiful and enticing but it is the road that leads to destruction for a nation,” he told attendees. He explained that excessive importation funnels wealth to foreign producers, trapping local farmers in low-income subsistence operations that perpetuate poverty. This dynamic, he added, is a core driver of the persistent economic gap between wealthy developed nations and lower-income developing countries.
While Campbell acknowledged that collaboration is theoretically critical to agricultural progress, he pushed back against the hollow, profit-first collaboration that dominates Jamaica’s current market. He called out local intermediaries who prioritize cheap imports over supporting domestic producers, noting that many middlemen operate with a single-minded focus on profit, disregarding national food security and the livelihoods of local farming communities. “With whom shall producers collaborate? Shall we collaborate with those whose sole interest is hinged unto that ‘profit motive’ which says, ‘As long as I can make a profit by importing, I do not care about the local producer or concepts such as food security?’ And that, I tell you, is the mentality of many of the margin gatherers in Jamaica,” he said.
Campbell went on to outline a clear roadmap for purpose-driven collaboration that centers national food security. He recommended that local farmers build trust-based partnerships with domestic financial institutions to expand access to capital; work closely with academic research centers and regional farmer collectives to share data and boost output; integrate digital and agricultural technology to cut operational costs, improve communication, and boost efficiency; engage with public and private sector stakeholders to unlock new market opportunities; upgrade core infrastructure for quality control, logistics, packaging and cold storage; partner with educational institutions to train farmers in high-value skills like negotiation and business management; and align with climate science organizations to advance climate-resilient, sustainable farming practices.
Campbell’s broader critique of over-reliance on imports grows out of recent tensions in Jamaica’s domestic egg market. JEFA has publicly opposed the Jamaican government’s plan to extend a duty waiver for imported eggs through the end of May 2026, arguing the policy would undercut local producers still working to rebuild after back-to-back major hurricanes. The tariff exemption was originally set to expire on February 28, 2026, but the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Mining has moved to extend it, citing ongoing supply disruptions following consecutive major storms.
When Hurricane Melissa, a Category 5 storm, made landfall on October 28, 2025, Jamaica’s egg industry was still recovering from Hurricane Beryl, which hit in 2024. The ministry noted that after Beryl, JEFA projected production would return to pre-storm levels within six months, but that recovery never materialized, leaving persistent supply gaps. Though Campbell did not address the waiver proposal directly during his seminar address to final-year UTech business students, he clarified his position to Jamaica Observer in a post-presentation interview, confirming that local egg production has rebounded substantially in the months after Melissa hit.