St. Mary Farmers Receive Hurricane Relief Assistance

Some 1,500 farmers in St. Mary have benefited from government’s hurricane relief assistance programme, following the devastation caused to their crops and livestock by Hurricane Ivan in September of last year.
Under the relief programme, assistance has been distributed to the farmers through the Office of National Reconstruction (ONR) following assessments carried out by the Rural Agricultural Development Authority (RADA).
The assistance which was handed out in the form of vouchers valuing $5,000 and $3,500 respectively, will enable the affected farmers to purchase farm supplies in their effort to resuscitate farming activities.
Speaking with JIS News recently, RADA Parish Manager for St. Mary, Victor Edwards, said additional assistance provided by Agro Grace and valued at $2,260 per voucher was currently being distributed to the farmers to revive carrot cultivation in the parish after the hurricane.
Informing that the assistance from Agro Grace was part of a $12 million package provided by that company to aid the farming sector island wide after the hurricane, Mr. Edwards said a total of 33 farmers in the parish would benefit from the initiative.
The vouchers distributed by the ONR have enabled the farmers to purchase supplies such as chickens and chicken feed, spraying equipment, tools, seeds and fertilizer at farm stores in St. Mary and at other outlets including Agro Grace, Antilles Chemicals and T. Geddes Grant.
Expressing optimism that the assistance would play a major role in enabling the farmers of the parish to revive agriculture to its pre-hurricane level, the RADA Parish Manager said he had full confidence in the resilience of the farmers of St. Mary and their ability to continue to increase and diversify production.
He assured the farmers that RADA was fully committed to continuing to provide the farming community with the technical support necessary to ensure the success of their efforts.