Just under three months after Hurricane Melissa tore through some of Jamaica’s most productive farming areas, Agriculture Minister Floyd Green is reporting a rapid recovery of the crop sector, with excess production of several crops.

Green made the disclosure at a press briefing on Tuesday, crediting farmers’ resilience and swift post-hurricane interventions by the ministry and its agencies for the strong rebound.

“As a result of the resilience of our farmers and also the swift post-hurricane interventions of the ministries and the agencies, we have seen a rapid recovery in relation to crop agriculture,” Green said. “Several short-term vegetable crops are now available in large quantities.”

According to the minister, current data confirms excess production in crops including cucumbers, lettuce, pak choi, and string beans. He said parishes reporting notable surpluses include Clarendon with excess sweet potatoes, sweet peppers, cucumbers, and lettuce; St Elizabeth [with] yellow squash, cauliflower, cucumbers, string beans, zucchini, lettuce, and pak choi; Manchester with carrots, cucumbers, lettuce, pak choi, and string beans; Westmoreland with zucchini, cucumbers, lettuce, pak choi; St Anne with string beans, lettuce, and pak choi; and St Thomas in particular with cucumbers.

“It’s amazing that less than three months after Hurricane Melissa, a Category 5 hurricane… we can stand here and speak about excess crops,” he said.

However, he explained that the surplus has been driven partly by a downturn in demand, particularly from the hotel and hospitality sector, which is still recovering from the hurricane.

“So we have seen, for example, slow movement in yellow squash, cauliflower, zucchini, and romaine lettuce because these crops are primarily produced for the hotel and hospitality sector, and the current uptake levels remain uneven as that sector continues its own recovery following Hurricane Melissa,” Green said, noting that current hotel uptake averages about 30 per cent for string beans, 75 per cent for zucchini, 80 per cent for squash, 60 per cent for cucumbers and 60 per cent for lettuce.

Supply chain challenges have also compounded the situation. Green pointed to limited cold storage capacity, worsened by electricity disruptions affecting major purveyors, which has constrained efforts to redirect surplus produce to alternative markets during peak harvest periods.

“The farmers would be preparing for what would have been the peak of the hotel season with some of these items like the squash, like the zucchini. So we have seen a significant increase in production in some areas, and we are seeing excess on the market,” he said.

Hurricane Melissa which struck the island on October 28, 2025 left a significant impact on the agriculture sector, damaging crops, livestock, fisheries, agro parks, and irrigation systems. Over 70,000 farmers were impacted and $30 billion was estimated in damage, with the World Bank’s own rapid assessment, putting that figure closer to $60 billion. This included $1.3 billion in damage suffered across eight agro parks.

The minister credited the rapid crop recovery to significant government support including $30 million which was provided to the Agro-Invest Corporation to drive efforts through the provision of seeds, fertiliser, chemicals and land preparation.

“One of the big policy changes is that we have given a moratorium on lease, which is valued at $40 million and supports 440 investors across 2,750 hectares,” Green said. “We’ve also focused on drain cleaning, especially in our mango agro park, cleaning 10 kilometres of drain.”

“We’ve contracted across the agroparks four private tractor owners to carry out land preparation work covering approximately 240 acres so that they can be ready for short- and medium-term production,” he added.

Recovery activities also included free land preparation on about 360 hectares, the distribution of 700 bags of fertiliser and allocation of 28,000 millilitres of agricultural chemicals.

“And because of that intervention, we started to see multiple crop categories return— vegetables, condiments, spices, roots, tuber crops across the agroparks,” the minister said.

He noted further that consumers are already seeing sharp price reductions.

“The beauty with agriculture is that you can tell whether agriculture is doing well or not. It’s not something that you can hide and consumers have already started to see significant reduction in vegetable prices and food prices across the market.”

According to Green, prices have fallen between 14 and 77 per cent across several items. Watermelon prices have dropped by 63 per cent, from $880 per kilogram to $330; pumpkin is down 33 per cent; sweet pepper by 20 per cent; carrots by 40 per cent; and scotch bonnet peppers by about 20 per cent.

With some crop lines now experiencing a glut, the minister said the next phase of recovery must be carefully managed to ensure farmers can find markets and reinvest.

To that end, the ministry will roll out a series of targeted farmers’ markets starting this Friday and continuing islandwide over the next few weeks. These markets will be coordinated by the Rural Agricultural Development Authority (RADA) and the Jamaica Agricultural Society (JAS) to expand direct farmer-to-consumer sales. The ministry also plans to provide logistical support, including transportation, to help farmers get produce to market.

In addition, discussions are underway with agri-processors to absorb surplus crops and convert them into juices, concentrates and other value-added products.

Green further announced plans for a new buyback programme, similar to one implemented during the COVID-19 pandemic, through which the ministry would purchase produce directly from farmers and redistribute it. The programme is now in its final planning stages.

“Again, I would love to see us return to the epochs of produce that we did during COVID-19, because that allowed some of our urban consumers to have things like squash and zucchini, eggplant, these things for the first time,” he said.

Storage solutions will also form a key part of the response. Two 20-foot storage containers powered by renewable energy have been installed in Flagaman and are expected to be operational within three weeks. The Essex Valley Storage Facility is slated to launch in early February, providing capacity for about 22 containers of fresh produce. The minister said additional cold storage facilities, including the Content facility, are expected to come on stream in the first quarter of the next financial year.

“The lessons of Hurricane Melissa are being applied deliberately, from catastrophe funds and insurance to diversify markets, stronger infrastructure and building systems that can withstand future shocks. For farmers, fishers and our rural family, we have reached some of you. We have not yet reached all of you. But you can be assured that help is on the way.

“The government remains engaged, present and accountable to you. And we are going to hold your hands as we drive this recovery together. We will feed Jamaica,” Green said.