Agriculture Ministry Moving Quickly to Provide Assistance for Farmers

Farmers could start receiving assistance in another two weeks as the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Mining moves quickly to complete damage assessments in the aftermath of Hurricane Beryl.

Minister without Portfolio with responsibility for Information, Skills and Digital Transformation, Senator Dr. the Hon. Dana Morris Dixon, made the disclosure in response to a question during Wednesday’s (July 24) post-Cabinet press briefing at Jamaica House.

The Ministry of Agriculture announced last week that $700 million has been allocated as an immediate response to farmers impacted by the July 3 hurricane.

This initial tranche of support will be used to purchase critical items to help farmers rebuild, including doing infrastructure repairs.

“In terms of the Ministry of Agriculture, they had indicated last week that they would start providing support to our farmers, and the way they are doing it is the reallocation of their budget and so they are in a position to actually move very quickly.

“They have been doing their assessments in the field, and we believe in another two weeks or so you will start seeing that assistance coming to farmers. It’s very important to get the assistance to our farmers and get them up and running,” Dr. Morris Dixon said.

She noted that the support is integral in enabling farmers to replant and to ensure that consumers can access fresh local produce at an affordable cost.

“For those of you who went to the market on Saturday, you would have seen that there were many things that weren’t there and those things that were there were very highly priced. So, it is in our interest to get our farmers up as quickly as we possibly can, and so the Ministry of Agriculture is moving very quickly in that direction,” she said.