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You may have already purchased your turkey for your family's Christmas dinner, but in the event that you haven't, Quality Poultry says that they have plenty of birds to supply the entire country's needs.

They tracked last year's demand for turkey, and anticipating that the market will be just as busy if not more, they made sure produce more than last year.

Today, the company's Belize City Branch manager told us that are only selling local turkey this year:

Andre Salgado - Branch Manager, Quality Poultry
"Christmas time in Belize, especially in Belize City, is mostly geared around turkey. A Belizean meal is nothing less than rice and beans, turkey, etc. So, we have ensured that this year, we're more than self-sufficient to facilitate the entire market of Belize. So for instance, this year, we didn't import any turkeys. There was no need for the importation of turkeys because Quality Poultry has ensured that yes, we are ready for the market. Last year, we sold approximately 443 thousand pounds of turkey throughout the entire country. So, what we did, we increased that amount by 5% this year. So, again, we are more than 100% sufficient; we're 105%. And we're waiting for everyone to come on down to see what they can pick up from us."

Daniel Ortiz
"Do you all expect the amount of turkey consumed this year will rival or surpass last year's number?"

Andre Salgado
"We'll that's what we're hoping, and of course, any business out there would hope and expect that yes, there will be an increase. This year, as compared to last year, right now we're right on mark. I just checked the figures a while ago before you guys came. So, yes I know that we're right there about mark."

"All turkeys throughout the entire country of Belize, they come from 1 hatchery, which is in the US. And so, we bring in the eggs, and we have specific farmers geared towards just raising turkeys. So, for the entire year, we have a couple farmers whose job is only for turkeys."

Belize was forced to import turkeys in 2015 after avian influenza wiped out local stocks.

Channel 7

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