$50 million to assist banana, plantain farmers affected by TS Grace

The Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries is to provide $50 million to the Banana Board in emergency aid to assist banana and plantain farmers whose fields suffered extensive damage from strong winds associated with the recent passage of Tropical Storm Grace.

This is well short of the estimated $300 million in losses the farmers suffered but Portfolio Minister Floyd Green explained the 50-million injection is necessary to stimulate the sector.

“The loss to the sector is coming out at about 29 per cent of our banana and plantain sector. So that is significant and we have to get that sector back up and running as quickly as possible,” he told a virtual press briefing hosted by the ministry on Wednesday.

Green pointed out that the setback for the sector comes at a time when production was trending up.

“We were on a growth trajectory. In fact, our production numbers for banana and plantain have increased by 25 per cent, and importantly, our export numbers for bananas have gone up significantly,” he disclosed.

Banana farmers in the eastern parishes of Portland and St Mary were the worst affected.

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