Accelerate help for hurricane-hit agriculture sector, says Campbell

 

Opposition spokesman on Agriculture Dr. Dayton Campbell says his assessment of losses from Hurricane Beryl is an estimated $2 billion - $1 billion in crops lost and another $1 billion in livestock and infrastructure.

 

Dr. Campbell, who toured yam farms in southern Trelawny on Friday, said the support from the Agriculture Ministry needs to be accelerated as the repercussions will affect the economy. 

 

"If agriculture is not dealt with urgently, we're going to have a problem," he warned, citing reports from farmers and vendors that the cost of carrots, cabbage and other crops will increase as early as next week, and it will take up to six months for things to return to normal. 

 

"Food plays a large role in the inflation basket, especially of low income people. Most of what they do with the money that they have is to buy food, and so once the price moves with that, then you're going to have an increase in inflation, which is then going to affect the entire population. So we really want to see some immediate intervention in the agricultural sector to try to get it back to normal in as short a time as possible," Dr. Campbell urged. 

 

The Ministry of Agriculture has said assessment teams have been deployed to the hardest-hit areas to evaluate the damage and identify urgent requirements.

 

Additionally, it said a task force and an emergency disaster relief fund have been established to assist those directly impacted by the hurricane.