Banana crisis hits Maroon’s Pride after Beryl’s wrath

With Hurricane Beryl flattening vast acres of farms in St James, the operators of the Maroon's Pride banana chips factory are dreading an impending shortage of the potassium-rich produce that will force them to scale down production.

Maroon's Pride has been a popular brand coming out of western Jamaica since 1993, and its owner and operator Sean Chambers told The Sunday Gleaner that hundreds of bags of banana chips are sold to supermarkets and community shops weekly.

In addition to supporting local farmers, he said that the Maroon Town, St James-based factory employs 20 residents from the rural farming community.

Last week, Chambers' business partner and brother, Teno Treleven, lamented the devastating loss of the parish's banana fields and its impending effects on their business.

“Any banana weh we can find ya now, we have to get it. We nah go have any for ourselves fi a while because we need fi spruce up back the land and replant,” he told The Sunday Gleaner last Friday.

The businessman is hoping to locate high-quality produce as he believes there may be a shortage of Maroon's Pride banana chips “sooner than later because if we don't have the raw material, then we can't produce anything”.

But this may prove quite a struggle as the banana industry sustained some $2.1 billion worth of damage as Hurricane Beryl pummelled the island on July 3. The Banana Board estimates that the subsector sustained an 80 to 100 per cent loss across the largest banana-producing parishes of St Thomas, St Mary, St James, Portland, Clarendon, and St Catherine.

To make matters worse, it takes some nine to 12 months for banana plants to shoot and for the fruits to reach maturity.

Chambers explained that prior to the hurricane, his chips factory was being regularly supplied with raw material from his 15-acre banana field. This was supplemented with produce from farmers in Maroon Town and other surrounding areas. Now, his team is on a desperate hunt for bananas to keep up with consumers' demands.

Treleven said that while an increase in the price of the banana chips is currently not on the table, they are watching the situation as it unfolds.

“Maybe we have fi go raise up banana chips, but we nuh wah do it suh. We wah mek sure seh better come before we do that,” he told The Sunday Gleaner.

In the meantime, the brothers are working to get their banana fields back under cultivation and are hoping that assistance will come their way through the government agencies.

“The farm dem down. Most we can do right now is get workman fi chop up and clean up. The two likkle banana dem weh we can find is just fi the time. Majority of the bigger ones weh we would look fi reap now are gone,” Treleven bemoaned.

“As soon as we can get some help, then we can get back on track. We are going to need some fertilizers and farming supplies,” Chambers added, while sharing that he hopes to get Maroon's Pride banana chips on international shelves after recovery.

Several banana farmers in rural St James whose fields were ravaged by the hurricane told The Sunday Gleaner last week that they now intend to invest more in cash crops, which will yield produce for market in a shorter time, as they seek to recover from Beryl's blow.

Ricardo Campbell, a banana farmer in nearby Flagstaff, is among those exploring this option. He explained that not only is he unable to supply the chips factory with produce, but his weekly trips to the Charles Gordon Market are now on pause.

“My banana walk flat dung right now. Mi haffi a try bring it up back. Mi a go plant some short crops fi the time being, like some sweet peppers, hot pepper, cabbage and okra,” said Campbell.

Janice Fairclough in nearby Maldon revealed that Hurricane Beryl devastated approximately 75 per cent of her seven-acre banana and plantain farm. But although she was able to secure some of the unfit bananas on the fallen trees from the elements by covering them with leaves, the loss was heavy.

“Mi save some ... . Mi cover up some, but as you cover it up, the leaves dry up and you have to go back and cover it again. Most of them burn up in the sun and some of the trees broke so you know dem nah full any further. About three-quarters of my crops are gone,” Fairclough lamented.

She also told The Sunday Gleaner that banana prices at the Charles Gordon Market have sky-rocketed since the hurricane, moving from $100 per dozen to $200 and as high as upwards of $300.

Another Maldon farmer, Anthony Barrett, said that the loss of his banana farms will cause major financial stress for his family.

“Mi have five daughters fi tek care of so this set me back big time. This might even mek mi drink harder because mi nuh have much fi live off of,” he said.

Meanwhile, Glendon Harris, president of the St James chapter of the Jamaica Agricultural Society, explained that some farmers may be without bananas for more than nine months, depending on the variety that they are replanting.

“Banana takes nine months to grow, so for those that have the suckers standing, depending on the stage they are in, certain varieties might come in less than seven months from the suckers. Gros Michel is going to take a longer time than the nine months, though,” said Harris.

“The suckers that are not impeded will come a little earlier and most of us as farmers are trying to ensure that those are dealt with in such a way that they will be able to produce in short order,” he added.

Harris is anticipating that the majority of the banana farmers in St James will be in a much better position by next May. That timeline could, however, be thrown off by adverse weather conditions as consistent rainfall attracts pests, while drier conditions increase sunburn, he further noted.

He said his society is lobbying to bring relief to the farmers through governmental support and the private sector.

“Between the Ministry of Agriculture, through RADA (Rural Agricultural Development Authority) and other agencies, we have some suppliers who have been giving out some input materials like fertilizers. We are expecting that some of us will get some funding otherwise [to finance] the labour costs because we have to cut up all that fell down, and we have to ensure that we utilise the insecticide to get those plants up and running again,” said Harris.

rochelle.clayton@gleanerjm.com