FALMOUTH, Trelawny — President of the Jamaica Egg Farmers Association (JEFA) Mark Campbell is urging members to protect their flock from an ongoing heatwave that is taking a toll on the industry, even as it recovers from the double whammy of hurricanes Beryl and Melissa.

Speaking with reporters on his farm in Trelawny Monday afternoon, Campbell noted that prolonged high temperatures have been especially hard on farmers along the island’s south coast, where laying hens have died from heat stress. He said farmers have reported losses of hundreds of birds, representing millions of dollars in replacement costs, plus income lost from reduced egg production.

“This year, 2026, the egg industry has come under sweltering heat, and a number of farmers, particularly those on the south side of the island — St Elizabeth, and Clarendon — they have suffered heavy losses. One farmer over there told me that he has lost over 700 chickens because of the heat that is on the land. And another farmer on the same south side of the island lost over 600 chickens. Now, those two figures run into millions of dollars just in the cost to purchase these chickens. And then the opportunity that has been lost is significant,” said Campbell, who is also operator of Campbell’s Egg Farm Limited in Trelawny.