Business View Caribbean | Jan 2019

26 ALGIX JAMAICA LIMITED pulls back nutrients from the water. It’s a natural biological treatment for water conditioning. The treatment is done in a designated 40-acre area, after which the clean water is discharged back into the Black River. As for Algix Jamaica’s objectives over the next five years, Thompson shares, “First, we just want to increase efficiencies here.We have another location in Clarendon that we also own but, right now, we’re getting our current site in full operation, then we’ll move on to the next. After that are all kinds of possibilities. The Clarendon location is closer to other smaller farms, so we may start looking at the option of contract farming. Production-wise, we want to get our feed conversion ratio down. Currently, it’s expensive to buy the water and the feed– we want to reduce the unit cost of production somewhat and then have the technology at a level where we’re comfortable. At that stage we’ll be ready to move ahead.” Thompson is proud of the company’s achievements after only four years in operation, and rightly so. “Algix Jamaica is the largest fish producer in the English-speaking Caribbean. We produce approximately 70 percent of the fish grown in Jamaica, and 98 percent of our employees are from the area. Nothing in the industry compares.” Black River Mayor, Derrick Sangster (left); State Minister of Agriculture, J.C.-Hutchinson (center); Algix Farms Operations Manager, Noel Thompson (right) in the Processing Plant