Byron Thompson, CEO and group managing director of Seprod, which owns Island Dairies Limited - one of the island's major producer of dairy products - explained that production dropped to as low as 20 per cent after the passage of Hurricane Dean in August and subsequent adverse weather conditions. He is, however, optimistic that production will be back to 100 per cent by early this year.

"We are probably about 90 per cent of where we were before this point," he said. "We are still milking the cows and we are still producing so that will take some time to get back out into the market place."

According to Thompson, the cows came under heavy stress as a result of Hurricane Dean and the weeks of heavy rains that followed.

"During that time the cows tend to suffer some stress and they don't give as much milk as they would normally give under normal conditions, and so we had a set back in that regard," Thompson said. "I am happy to say that the rain has abated and things are gradually coming back to normal.

Obviously it will take a while to get back to the way it was pre-hurricane because what you find in times like these when the milk gets out there, a person who would normally pick up two picks up four and that will exacerbate the whole situation."

According to Thompson, the entire process takes about 10 days before the milk reaches the hands of consumers.

"...Because you have to process it, package it and when you package it you have to let it stay under observation for a period of about a week before it is sent out," he explained, adding that packaging occurs every day except on Sundays.

Serge Island accounts for nearly half the fresh milk produced locally. Last year the company produced 5.8 million litres of the island's total production of 14.5 litres of milk with Thompson projecting production of just over five million litres this year.

Source: Jamaica Observer