Massive spike in estimated cost of Beryl impact on farming sector
Published:Friday | July 26, 2024 | 12:10 AMRuddy Mathison/Gleaner Writer
Agriculture, Fisheries and Mining Minister Floyd Green is now estimating the damage sustained by farmers from Hurricane Beryl at $6.5 billion, up from the $5.7 billion announced in Parliament last week Tuesday.
Speaking at a Hi-Pro Beryl relief handover ceremony at the company’s head office in White Marl, St Catherine, yesterday, where $5 million worth of supplies were handed over to the ministry for distribution to farmers, Green noted that additional figures from the fisheries sector could drive the total even higher.
“That is the loss to the sector, but rebuilding the sector would take about one and a half times the cost of the loss, so we are looking at close to $10 billion that it will take to get us back where we were before Hurricane Beryl hit us,” Green stated.
He highlighted the severe impact on small poultry farmers, describing them as the backbone of food independence in relation to chickens and eggs. Green noted that these farmers, many of whom are single women, were hit hard, with significant implications for their households, especially in generating back-to-school funds.
“We suffer tremendously in relation to our layer and our broiler farmers, again a lot of single female-run households. That is their source of income, especially in generating funds for back to school. We would be surprised how these numbers add up,” Green added.
He reported that some 300,000 animals were lost during Hurricane Beryl, with the vast majority being chickens.
“So we will definitely be working with our small chicken farmers to get them back into production as quickly as possible,” Green emphasised, adding that the Government had allocated $60 million to help these farmers resume production, along with $26 million to re-establish their damaged chicken houses.
Retired Col Jaimie Ogilvie, Hi-Pro vice -president, pointed to the urgent need for sector support, noting that his company had distributed more than 140,000 baby chicks to small farmers across the island since the hurricane.
“We also made available about $35 million, and counting, in support to the sector. This is really to support what the ministry has done as an immediate response by reallocating something like $7 million already from internal resources,” Ogilvie said.
He called for other private-sector entities to provide assistance, emphasising the urgency of restoring the food-supply chain to ensure food security for Jamaica.