The Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Mining has allocated $700 million to assist farmers recover from the passage of Hurricane Beryl.
Minister of Agriculture, Hon. Floyd Green said this initial support will be used to purchase critical items urgently needed to help farmers rebuild their operations.
The Minister added that the funds will be disbursed through the Rural Agricultural Development Authority (RADA), Jamaica Agricultural Society (JAS), Agro Investment Corporation (AIC) and Members of Parliament.
“The allocation includes $210 million, which will focus on crop recovery. We will allocate $90 million to our vegetable lines, $40 million towards our banana and plantain farmers and $80 million towards other crops, especially yam and our coffee farmers. In relation to livestock… we are allocating $60 million to help them [our small poultry farmers] rebuild their enterprise. We are not only allocating in relation to the provision of livestock; a number of farmers lost their infrastructure. As such, we are allocating $26 million towards the rebuilding of livestock infrastructure,” said Minister Green.
The Minister was addressing the Houses of Parliament on Tuesday, July 16.
Mr. Green said an initial sum of $29 million will be allocated to the fisheries sector,
$30 million for fertiliser support,
$55 million for infrastructure support,
$20 million for irrigation,
$50 million for land preparation and clearance,
$70 million for farm road rehabilitation.
Also, $150 million will be allocated through Members of Parliament, which will be prorated based on the level of damage in the constituency.
He pointed out that distribution will commence for seeds across various vegetable lines on Thursday (July 18).
“Because we knew that some form of weather disaster would befall us this season, we started the procurement process early and have already procured $65 million in seeds across various vegetable lines,” the Minister said.
He noted, as well, that a distribution plan will commence next week for fertiliser donated by the Government of Morocco.
An estimated $4.73 billion in damage has been caused to the sector due to the passage of Hurricane Beryl.