Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Mining, Hon. Floyd Green (right) is shown what remains of one of the poultry houses owned by the owner of Sandy Ridge Farms Ltd, Christopher Blake, during a tour of farms and agricultural infrastructure in St. Elizabeth on Saturday, July 6, to assess the damage from Hurricane Beryl.

Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Mining, Hon. Floyd Green, said preliminary reports suggest that Jamaica is looking at over a billion dollars in damages to its agriculture sector as a result of damages sustained from Hurricane Beryl.

Minister Green indicated that the southern parishes, namely Clarendon, Manchester and St. Elizabeth, received the brunt of the blow from Hurricane Beryl.

“From all our preliminary work thus far, St. Elizabeth has been the hardest hit and accounts for 70% of the damage we have seen so far,” Green highlighted.

Minister Green was speaking during a tour of farms and agricultural infrastructure in St. Elizabeth on Saturday, July 6, to assess the damage from Hurricane Beryl.

The agriculture minister outlined that almost all major crop lines have been impacted by the hurricane. For the south, he noted that reports indicate damage to vegetable lines, tubers, and fruit trees.

Minister Green adds that greenhouse farmers were impacted the most by the hurricane having lost their structures, coverings and crops. He said about 90% of greenhouse farmers across Clarendon, Manchester and St. Elizabeth would have suffered some form of damage, with most bearing complete losses, which he says is a “big blow to our agriculture sector.”

“Our greenhouses have normally been the backbone of our food security metrics because they operate in and out of season as how they are structured. So, definitely for our vegetable lines this is going to be a massive, massive blow,” he added.

He said the ministry will be crafting a special response strategy to assist greenhouse farmers.

The agriculture minister also shared that livestock farmers were not spared from the wrath of the hurricane highlighting that poultry farmers were most impacted having lost birds and housing structures.

“In our crafting a response, we not only have to look at how do we help them to restart in terms of restock birds but also to get those structures back up and running. A lot of those structures were very expensive structures because they were top-of-the-line in terms of their design, there were tunnel houses that were unfortunately destroyed,” Green outlined.

Minister Green said he intends to update parliament this week with respect to the extent of the damage. He said the government will also be using that time to outline a programme of response.

“We do understand that it needs a quick response in this time. We know Our farmers are out there and thankful they are resilient so they are ready to get back out there and to get back farming so we at the Ministry will be willing to assist them. I know a number of the private sector have been looking on, we are going to need your help. We will need all hands on deck to bring back our agricultural sector,” he said.

Minister Green shared briefly on the damage to the fisheries sector, highlighting that about 10 to 15 per cent of fishing boats suffered some form of damage. He also noted that assets on fishing beaches such as sheds would have suffered damage and several fisherfolks would have lost pots.

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