Finance Minister Updates Diplomats on Damage to Agriculture by Hurricane

Estimates have shown that damage to agriculture and livestock caused by Hurricane Ivan last September is in excess of $8.5 billion, Minister of Finance and Planning, Dr. Omar Davies has said.
He informed members of the Diplomatic Corps at Jamaica House on January 25 that the agricultural sector, which was severely affected by the hurricane, was currently on its way to recovery.
“We have had to put in a programme of trying to assist the farmers to get back on their feet. Jamaica’s peasant farmers are a special bunch. They are self reliant and when their livelihood has been wiped out as well as their houses have been damaged, they have a double whammy and working our way through that problem has been one of the more challenging aspects of the impact of Hurricane Ivan,” the Minister said.
He emphasized that the government was working to restore the sector, and already production in certain areas was virtually back to normality.
“For those of you who are cognizant of our measure of inflation, domestic food crops have the highest weighting in our basket of goods and services and hence that last surge over October and November in inflation is directly related to the shortage of domestic production,” he informed the Diplomats.