Agriculture, Fisheries and Mining Minister, the Hon. Floyd Green
KINGSTON, Oct. 25 (JIS):
The Government is working on a disaster recovery plan for the agriculture sector, which is expected to be significantly impacted by the passage of Hurricane Melissa. Agriculture, Fisheries and Mining Minister, the Hon. Floyd Green, made the disclosure at a press briefing at Jamaica House on Saturday (Oct. 25).
“Part of what we are doing now is crafting our recovery. It is very clear that we will have significant negative impact on our agriculture sector… we have already started to craft a disaster recovery plan that will be finalised based on the extent of the damage,” he said. Minister Green said that vegetable seeds have already been procured to offset the anticipated damage to these crops.
“We already have in stock through our Rural Agricultural Development Authority (RADA) offices some vegetable seeds so that we will be able to get out as quickly as possible,” he said, adding that chemicals have also been procured for distribution to farmers after the weather event. Minister Green said that the Ministry has been engaging with its partners on recovery efforts, including CARICOM, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the European Commission on Agriculture (ECA).
“We have already had a meeting with our CARICOM counterparts around support they plan to provide. We have already had outreach from the FAO and ECA and have indicated that they stand ready to assist Jamaica in relation to its recovery effort on the agriculture and fisheries side,” he said.
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CONTACT: ROCHELLE WILLIAMS
