$2.5b spent to help farmers recover from Hurricane Beryl, Tropical Storm Rafael— Green
KINGSTON, Jamaica— The Government has, to date, spent $2.5 billion through the disaster and national production and productivity programmes to help farmers recover from the effects of Hurricane Beryl in July and Tropical Storm Rafael, which impacted the island on November 5.
This was disclosed by Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries, Floyd Green, in the House of Representatives on Tuesday.
“In relation to current recovery initiatives I am pleased to advise this honourable House that we have expended $210 million for the resuscitation of crops,” said Green. The amount includes $90 million for vegetables, $40 million for bananas and plantains, and $80 million for other crops.
Additionally, $70 million has been allocated for coffee, cocoa and spices and $129 million to the fisheries sector for the rehabilitation of beaches and providing inputs to fishers. A total of $165 million is being spent on the procurement of greenhouse material which includes antiviral meshing and plastic for distribution to farmers.
Green told the House that $96 million was allocated for livestock and livestock infrastructure replacement, while fruit tree crop planting rehabilitation continues with 800 acres to be planted over the next month.
“We continue our resilience programme with the procurement of irrigation kits valued at $120 million to boost our production and productivity. A significant part of the recovery effort will include a poultry production programme valued at $30 million that will assist farmers with baby chicks across all constituencies. This will boost the availability of broiler meat from our backyard farmers especially during the Christmas period,” the minister outlined.
He also disclosed that $200 million will be spent on the farm road rehabilitation programme.
“Given that the most significant damage from Rafael was to our farm roads we will be requesting additional support for the farm road rehabilitation programme,” Green said.
In the meantime, he said $30 million was allocated towards the trucking of water to farmers in the worst affected parishes in the aftermath of Hurricane Beryl.
