By Rasbert Turner, Gleaner WriterSPANISH TOWN, St. Catherine:
STANFORD LAWES, the deputy manager of the Rural Agricultural Development Authority (RADA), St. Catherine, has reported that the damage to the agriculture sector in the parish has totalled $380 million.
He said that banana has been wiped out while fishing, poultry and agriculture suffered gravely.
And according to Andrew Carty, manager of RADA, St. Catherine, the only aspect of farming that was not adversely affected was the more than 80 hectares of shrimp that supply the domestic market.
He told Farmers Weekly on Thursday after a meeting between State Minister of Agriculture Errol Ennis and numerous St. Catherine farmers, that currently some 35,000 pounds of shrimp were being reaped monthly and the Brompton Farm in Old Harbour was still lucrative.
The meeting was held at the Old Harbour Lions Club's Civic Centre.
The farmers agreed that while the Government focuses on the recovery of the agricultural sector, they were in need of inputs such as seedlings and fertilisers.
But Mr. Ennis said the Ministry first had to identify the problems caused by the hurricane, including the losses sustained by farmers. However, he said within the next week farmers should start receiving agricultural inputs to help them resume agricultural production.
