Member of Parliament for South-East St. Elizabeth, Lensworth Blake (left), and other participants at last Friday's Gleaner Editors' Forum in Junction, St. Elizabeth. - Norman Grindley/Staff Photographer
WESTERN BUREAU:
HURRICANE IVAN delivered a crippling blow to farmers in St. Elizabeth who were only just waking up from the stupor brought on by the devastation of Hurricane Charley in August.
"The devastation is huge," said Howard Hines, parish manager of the Rural Agricultural Development Agency (RADA) during a Gleaner Editors' Forum on Friday. "It is going to take sometime before full assessment can be made."
According to Mr. Hines, some 2,000 farmers were being processed for damage suffered during Hurricane Charley, which lashed the island on August 11. One month later, Hurricane Ivan hit and he thinks that the number of damaged farms could triple.
TOPSOIL WASHED AWAY
Captain Edward Lyons of the Salvation Army, and a farmer himself, told the forum that many farmers did not only suffer crop damage but the topsoil of their farms has been washed away completely. "It will take at least a year for farmers who lost topsoil to start farming again," he said. "So this is really a great crisis."
He said based on his own observation, farmers from areas such as Nain, Top Hill and New Building suffered about 80 per cent of damage to crops. "The chicken industry has been wiped out with at least 98 per cent damage," Captain Lyons said.
Dorothy Buchanan, St. Elizabeth Parish Councillor for the Brampton Division, appealed for assistance for farmers.
