KINGSTON, Jamaica — Minister of Industry, Commerce, Agriculture and Fisheries, Karl Samuda has announced that $118 million has been made available to farmers affected by heavy rains last month.

More than 10,000 farmers were affected by the May rains, with losses amounting to an estimated $794 million.Speaking at the Launch of the Denbigh Agricultural Industrial and Food Show at Hi- Pro in White Marl, St Catherine this morning, Samuda noted that $18 million was recently made available to assist farmers, however he said a further $100 million has been allocated.He said the Agriculture Ministry and the Rural Agricultural Development Authority (RADA) will continue to support farmers “and we are hopeful that not only will they rebound but that by August when we meet at Denbigh; we will be back on track to surpassing all expectations”.Samuda also acknowledged that adverse weather conditions have contributed negatively to the growth of the agriculture sector this year.However, the agriculture minister said he is confident that by the end of the year the sector will rival its 2016 performance, when it contributed just under 7.5 per cent to Gross Domestic Product, GDP.“I have every confidence that we will see the level of success we saw last year, when we had the greatest contribution to GDP since 2001… I have no doubt we will rebound and continue to grow the economy,” said Samuda.