RADA Urges Farmers to Prepare for Active Hurricane Season

The Rural Agricultural Development Authority (RADA) is encouraging farmers islandwide to finalise their preparations, in light of early activity in this year’s Atlantic Hurricane Season.

With the threat of Hurricane Beryl approaching Jamaica during this week, the Authority is advising that disaster preparedness strategies which have not yet been employed, should be implemented now.

Senior RADA Plant Health and Food Safety Officer, Francine Webb, told JIS News that farming is a business, and in effectively preparing for weather systems, operators are protecting their businesses and safeguarding their livelihoods.

Ms. Webb has recommended that mature crops should be harvested.

“Once the crop starts to produce, it’s under increased stress. So relieving the stress is going to be important because of the likelihood of increased winds and increased rainfall,” she informed.

“Harvesting your mature crops and reaping any crop that is near maturity to prevent the loss due to the wind and flooding damage is going to be important, so that you can salvage something and market or put them into storage,” Ms. Webb added.

She said another critical step is managing the water levels in fields. This can be done by increasing the channels for water drainage on farms.

“You want to ensure that your fields have adequate drainage, because you’re going to be expecting increased rainfall and increased water pressure within the field, and you’re going to have situations where you may even have flooding. Draining systems [include] ditches and diversion channels to prevent water logging,” Ms. Webb added.

Farmers can also stake, cage and support their crops, especially vulnerable cultivations such as tomatoes and peppers, to prevent breaking and bending by high-speed winds.

Ms. Webb also recommends that farmers construct and implement windbreaks to further protect their crops from damage.

“Windbreaks are also something that we encourage farmers to do, particularly if you’re in a windy area. So you plant trees or you construct your windbreaks to reduce the wind speed and protect your crops from wind damage. This is something that we advocate for, even outside of the hurricane season, because of what the circumstances are within a particular area,” she said.

Current investments, such as farm equipment and irrigation systems, should also be protected.

“With the kind of drought conditions that we’ve been having, you may have made an investment like a drip irrigation system or water harvesting system. You want to make sure that you remove and safely store your irrigation lines to prevent them from being damaged, so that once the system has passed, you are able to quickly [position] your operations once things have normalised so your operations can go back to normal in a short space of time,” Ms. Webb explained.

RADA also encourages farmers to ensure they protect themselves and their families during storms.

Farmers are also advised to follow updates and personal preparedness tips from the Office of Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Management (ODPEM).