Cattle grazing on the 330-acre Grier House Farm owned by Dr. Henry Rainford, managing director of the Jamaica Livestock Association Limited. Reduced cattle inventory has resulted in a fall in demand for animal feeds, forcing the JLA to diversify its retail products.

The JLA has a wider plan to transform its retail operations into a series of 'super stores', or a one-stop shopping centre for farmers, to boost revenues.

"We have an example in Linstead where we have a hardware store selling lumber, steel, cement and that's doing fairly well and I think we can move that into our other stores islandwide," Rainford said.

The expansion of the Sav-la-mar store, one of a chain of 13, is expected to be carried out next year.

Alongside the traditional supplies of animal feed, the refashioned stores will sell hardware supplies, equipment, and farming accessories.

While noting that the new concept would not be easy to operationalise, JLA managing director and principal shareholder Henry Rainford said the market does exist and that it was just a matter of leveraging the JLA's existing network of stores to entice business.

Merchandise is the company's biggest money spinner, followed by animal feeds and poultry.