Beryl deals body blow to more than 3,000 St Thomas farmers
MORANT BAY, St Thomas — More than 3,000 St Thomas farmers, a combination of those who rear livestock and crop growers, are now struggling to recover from Hurricane Beryl and the numbers are likely to increase.
“Over 350 hectares of crop have been severely affected including bananas, plantains, fruits, and vegetables. For livestock, over 70 farmers were affected,” Rural Agricultural Development Authority (RADA) Acting Parish Manager Errard Stephenson reported during Thursday’s monthly meeting of the St Thomas Municipal Corporation.
He stressed that this is a preliminary estimate as data is still being collected in the field.
Stephenson gave an assurance that RADA is doing its best to establish contact with farmers to get a clear idea of their needs. He said the municipal corporation is expected to provide financial support and he appealed to the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries, and Mining for further support and resources to help farmers recover.
The challenge, he said, was the interruption to the power supply which hampers efforts to collect information by phone.
Even with the preliminary report of the body blow dealt to the parish’s farmers, Councillor Hubert Williams (People’s National Party, White Horses Division) warned residents to brace for shortages and higher prices.
“We have some rough days ahead in terms of supply and demand. In terms of vegetable production, we are going to find ourselves hunting for these things. In the next month, I believe we will be hearing some serious price for vegetables,” said Williams.
Questions have been raised about whether some of the damage could have been avoided. RADA’s Stephenson told the locally elected officials gathered for the meeting that a lack of adequate drainage systems on some farms contributed to flooding during heavy rains. He said in the coming week his team will assist farmers by using their backhoe equipment to create drainage systems.
Rural Agricultural Development Authority (RADA) Acting Parish Manager Errad Stephenson addressing Thursday’s meeting of the St Thomas Municipal Corporation. He says data is still being collected about damage suffered by farmers during the hurricane.
