St. Vincent and the Grenadines Minister of Agriculture, Saboto Caesar, painted a harrowing picture of the devastating impact that Hurricane Beryl had on the islands, particularly the agricultural sector. The country’s economy is largely dependent on agriculture, with the banana industry being the most important.
An assessment of the damage inflicted on the islands has yet to be carried out, but Caesar gave a preliminary assessment.
“In my 14 years as minister, this is the most devastating disaster I have seen in terms of the high winds and the damage they have caused, particularly to banana and plum growing areas,” Caesar told the Jamaica Observer in a brief interview.
“Many farmers have recovered well from the volcanic eruption but are in the early stages of recovery when they are faced with the onslaught of Hurricane Beryl. My message to Jamaican farmers is that they must be fully prepared and protect themselves and their families first, then assess the damage and losses,” he added.
Caesar said many parts of St. Vincent and the Grenadines were still without power and water a day after the hurricane sped toward Jamaica, and that engineers would be in the area starting Wednesday to assess the damage.
“I am warning Jamaica to take this hurricane seriously. Be prepared, close your shutters. There is no shame. I have heard some people saying, ‘Oh, why are you behaving like that? This is a blessed land’. You have to be prepared now. Faith without works is as good as dead. You only need works with your faith now. I am asking Jamaica to take this seriously,” Caesar pleaded.
His serious warning comes as Jamaica braces for the onslaught of Beryl, the most powerful hurricane on record this season, which could have serious implications for the country’s agriculture sector.
Plans are being made for a quick recovery from the impacts of the impending Hurricane Beryl.
Jamaica’s Minister of Agriculture, Floyd Green, said on Tuesday:
Business Observer reported that planning for hurricane season began as early as January and has intensified in recent weeks.
“The disaster risk management and mitigation structure has been institutionalised in the ministry for about two years now, with committees in every ministry and agency that have been meeting since January,” Green said.
“Since Beryl we have been sending in essential services, particularly through RADA (Rural Agriculture Development Agency) and AIC (Agricultural Investment Corporation), to work with farmers in flood-prone areas to see how we can help with things like drainage and cleaning waterways.”
He added that flood-prone agricultural parks such as Ebony Park in Clarendon, Plaintain Garden River in St Thomas and Amity Hall in St Catherine are being particularly targeted.
“We’re also mobilising our livestock officers to work with livestock farmers to see how we can help them move livestock to higher ground where necessary and reinforce structures such as chicken coops. We’ve advised greenhouse farmers to take measures such as removing greenhouse covers and have again advised them to strengthen their structures in preparation for high winds and heavy rain,” Green added, assuring that “teams are fully mobilised and out in the field”.
He said preparations were also being made, including having heavy machinery waiting in the coffee-growing areas of the Blue Mountains to quickly remove landslides after the hurricane passes.
“We have a general idea of most of the areas that are at risk of flooding, so what I’ve asked my team to do is to work with farmers in those areas. In many areas, there’s a lot we can do, but the truth is, the more we focus on mitigation activities — designing farms, roads, that kind of thing — the more they can help,” he added, noting that several areas that could be affected have been targeted.
Many of the preparedness and “institutionalized” strategies for disaster risk management and mitigation are aimed at avoiding the huge losses suffered by the agriculture sector in recent years as hurricanes and floods have become more frequent and less predictable.
Hurricanes have caused billions of dollars in damage to Jamaica’s agriculture sector in the past. The most recent hurricane in 2022, Tropical Storm Ian, caused $200 million in damage to the agriculture sector, but this is only a fraction of the damage that weather systems have caused to Jamaica.
According to a 2017 study conducted by the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA), RADA reported that between 1996 and 2010, hurricanes, floods, droughts and fires caused $8 billion in crop damage, with hurricanes and tropical storms accounting for 84 percent of that total.
The study noted that in 2012, Hurricane Sandy caused $4 billion in damages and affected 40,000 farmers.
However, Jamaica is taking proactive steps to mitigate some of the losses, speed the country’s recovery, and prevent long-term price hikes due to shortages.
“One of the things we’ve been able to do better because disaster mitigation and risk management has been institutionalized is we’ve been able to get started sooner. We now have funding set aside every year for disaster recovery. You know, over the past few years, we’ve been able to respond more quickly because we have funding for disaster recovery. Also, one of the things that’s helped us is we’ve put a procurement system in place and we’ve tried to procure alternatives until a disaster hits. So, when a disaster hits, we’re in a better position to distribute things like chemicals to help farmers deal with outbreaks of fungus or whatever. We have those on hand. And then we distribute inputs like fertilizer and seeds for farmers to replant,” Green noted.
He said the department would continue to monitor and assess after Beryl to “assess the extent of the damage and determine whether any additional information is required.”
And farmers themselves are being encouraged to take matters into their own hands. Aside from mitigation measures, insurance has been rolled out to help those affected recover. At least one insurance company now offers this insurance, but it is not enough to address some of the problems farmers face.
“Their insurance products are structured in a special way and I’ve actually started engaging with them because right now they offer insurance based on the season. But part of what we’re realizing is the seasons are changing so we don’t know yet whether we’ll be able to insure year-round because we’ll have to reassess that structure because typically we’re not anticipating getting these storms so early in the season,” Green told Business Observer.
“We are in discussions with other regional insurers to see if we can design a product that farmers can use,” he added, saying the talks were “quite advanced”.
He said farmers are also being encouraged to turn to more resilient agricultural practices, such as hydroponic systems that can be dismantled and reassembled very quickly.
“We must continue to train and look at innovation across the agricultural sector to help farmers better withstand increasingly severe and unpredictable weather events.”
For consumers, it’s even better prepared.
Jamaican Prime Minister Andrew Holness said the island had enough food to prevent expected shortages.
“We are in touch with the commercial industry to ensure that we have sufficient stockpiles so that people have access to at least food and water once the hurricane has passed,” Holness said at a press conference on Monday.
The Consumer Affairs Commission (CAC) also released details of an investigation it carried out to ascertain food levels across the country on Monday. CAC research director Raquel White said calls were made to several manufacturers and distributors.
The survey was conducted as part of an assessment based on the Disaster Management Manual for the Distribution Industry, which requires distributors and manufacturers to assess and provide information on their buffer stocks of at least one month’s inventory at the beginning of the hurricane season.
“Regarding food supplies, we received responses from approximately seven major distributors/manufacturers, with at least some committing to having one-month supplies, and at least one having a seven-month supply in a best-case scenario,” White noted. Items assessed included canned meat and vegetables, salted fish, rice, oil, flour, skim milk, infant formula, soap and disinfectants.
But she said that while items like crackers and bread might be in short supply, water should be plentiful. Most metal items were also in good supply at the time of White’s investigation.
She added that there is no public indication that retailers are taking advantage of the impending hurricane to inflate prices or take other actions that consumers dislike.
“We haven’t received any calls about people hoarding anything, marrying anything or otherwise behaving in an uncompetitive or unethical manner with respect to products,” White said.
She noted that the Consumer Affairs Commission typically conducts monthly surveys of groceries and gasoline, and increases its monitoring during hurricane season to include items consumers need during hurricanes, and said these surveys provide a basis for price comparison to ensure that unfair price gouging is not occurring.
