John Myers Jr., Staff Reporter
THE JAMAICA Agriculture Society (JAS) has appealed to the Government to make an interim payment of US$3 million (J$180 million) to the thousands of coffee farmers who have not been able to claim insurance payments for damage sustained to crops during Hurricane Ivan last September.
Senator Norman Grant, president of the JAS, told The Gleaner on Friday that his organisation was expected to file a lawsuit in the Supreme Court this week on behalf of the coffee farmers to press demands for the insurance payments.
CLEARING OF FIELDS
In the meantime, he said the JAS was requesting that the Government pay the farmers in order for them to begin clearing their fields and start replanting.
He said the Government would be able get back what it paid to the farmers when the court proceedings were over and payments made. But in the event that the court rules that the farmers would have to accept whatever the liquidators pay out, then Senator Grant said the Government could consider any losses as a contribution to the resuscitation of the farmers and the industry.
The island's coffee industry, of which the world famous Blue Mountain coffee brand is a product, is estimated to be worth some US$40 million annually and consists of approximately 10,000 farmers across the country.
