KINGSTON, Jamaica— Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries, Floyd Green, says there will be a sufficient supply of tubers and meat for the Christmas period.

He said that the ministry has been monitoring the food supply chain in light of the damage that has been done by the recent heavy rains.

“The good news is that in relation to our tubers [and] meat products, we do have sufficient supply. In fact, this Christmas, we expect to have the largest production of chicken the country has ever seen. Both our major producers are higher than pre-COVID levels in relation to production. We expect to see good supplies of tubers (yams, sweet potatoes),” he pointed out.

The minister was speaking at a virtual post-Cabinet press briefing today.

As it relates to vegetables, he noted that there was significant damage to tomatoes, cucumbers, lettuce and cabbage and there is expected to be a beak in the supply chain in relation to those crops.

“We have asked the Rural Agricultural Development Authority (RADA) to continue its assessment. We will be looking to see how bad the break in supply chain is and if there needs to be any alternative methodology to ensure that we do have sufficient supplies for Christmas, the Ministry of Agriculture is willing to take those steps,” Green said.

The recent heavy rains and some river breaches caused widespread flooding, resulting in some 2,955 hectares of crop losses, valued at approximately $2.5 billion, and impacting thousands of farmers.