MAROON TOWN, St James

The Maroon Town banana chips factory located in this rural farming community could close its doors within next month, and lay off its more than 25 workers, due to the devastation caused by Tropical Storm Gustav to the banana sector in St James.

“Maybe in another four weeks time we will have to close down the factory because the banana cultivation has been wiped out again,” Doreen Lawson, the acting general manager of the Maroon Pride Banana Chips factory told the Observer West.

Last month, Tropical Storm Gustav -which left a tale of destruction particularly along the Eastern section of the island – destroyed roughly 75 per cent of the more than 600 acres of banana cultivation in the southern section of St James.

She said yesterday that since the storm, the factory has been operating one day weekly, due to the lack of bananas.

She argued that Gustav could not have come at a worse time.

“We were just recovering for the last Hurricane (Dean) which hit many of the farmers very hard. Really and truly, the bananas in St James were just coming back and now they are destroyed again,” said a disappointed Lawson.

It is estimated that more than 80 per cent of banana cultivation in the southern section of the parish was wiped out, with Kensington, Maroon Town, Flagstaff, Garlands, Amity Hall and Catadupa, being the hardest hit.

Lawson said that since Hurricane Dean- with wind speed of about 145 miles per hour – struck the island last year August- the factory had not been functioning at full capacity.

“We were operating on a limited basis, sometimes working two days and one day per week because the industry had not recovered and so we were unable to get enough bananas,” she noted.

She said however, that the supply of the fruit had improved over the last few days and was expected to continue on that upward trend over the next few months.

But Hurricane Dean and Tropical Storm Gustav are just two of the natural disasters that have dealt a severe blow to the St James Banana industry over the last four years.

In March 2004, the deadly Moko disease resulted in the destruction of more than 50 acres of bananas in the parish, valued at roughly $40 million.

A few months later, Hurricane Ivan, a category four storm with winds of up to 150 miles per hour accompanied by heavy rain caused an estimated $500 million in damage to the St James banana sector.

More than 50 farmers in St James sell bananas to the Maroon Pride banana chips factory which has been in operation for just over 18 years.