1,600 Farmers, Fishers, Small Business Operators to Receive $192-million Cash Grant

A total of 1,600 farmers, fishers and small business operators in the agricultural sector who were impacted by Hurricane Melissa are to benefit from financial assistance valued at $192 million to help restore their livelihoods.

The Jamaica Red Cross (JRC) has partnered with the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Mining to deliver the support under the first phase of the Livelihoods Recovery Initiative.

The beneficiaries include 1,024 farmers, 320 fisherfolk and 256 micro-business operators.

Addressing the cheque handover on Tuesday (September 22) at the Ministry’s Hope Gardens headquarters in St. Andrew, Portfolio Minister, Hon. Floyd Green, thanked the JRC for the intervention.

He said that the support will provide direct cash grants, with each beneficiary to receive approximately $120,000.

Minister Green said the grants will be rolled out through the Rural Agricultural Development Authority (RADA), National Fisheries Authority (NFA) and Agro-Investment Corporation.

He noted that the beneficiaries have already been identified and preparations are under way to begin distributing the assistance.

Director General of the JRC, Yvonne Clarke, said the initiative goes beyond addressing humanitarian needs to restoring the ability of the beneficiaries to earn an income.

“As the Jamaica Red Cross gets deeper into recovery actions, our focus turns to helping people restore their ability to earn, produce and rebuild,” she said.

Ms. Clarke noted that Hurricane Melissa significantly disrupted agricultural, fisheries and small-business activities, with damage to productive assets making it difficult for affected persons to resume earning and supporting their families.

“For farmers and fishers especially, the loss of crops, equipment and productive assets has hampered their ability to earn and to provide livelihoods, to provide resources for their families and, indeed, resources for all of them,” she pointed out.

Ms. Clarke said that restoring productive capacity goes beyond individual beneficiaries, as farmers, fisherfolk and small businesses resume economic activity in their communities.

“It is about strengthening the agriculture and fisheries sectors that communities and a wider economy depend on,” she pointed out.

“For us, recovery means helping people move beyond surviving the disaster towards rebuilding their livelihoods, restoring productivity, strengthening their resilience for the future…Today, we take another important step in that direction,” Ms. Clarke added.