RADA outlines two-year recovery plan

The Rural Agricultural Development Authority (RADA) has outlined a two-year recovery plan for Jamaica's agricultural sector, which suffered an estimated $30 billion in damage from Hurricane Melissa.

The update came from the entity's Executive Officer, Garnet Edmondson, who was addressing the first in a four-part RADA Recovery and Resilience Forum at the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Mining's Hope Gardens location in St Andrew on Tuesday. Edmondson said that the immediate actions being implemented over the first three months of the hurricane's passage, involve emergency interventions, including damage assessments. Over the medium-term, from three to 12 months, assistance will be provided for the rehabilitation of infrastructure, farmer training and supply chain restoration. The long-term interventions, to be implemented from 12 to 24 months, will include building climate resilience, diversifying production and modernising farm systems.

Edmondson informed that in the first 90 days after the hurricane, RADA conducted rapid damage assessment across all 14 parishes and distributed more than $40 million in material, including seeds, fertilisers and planting materials. He added that the agency commenced free land preparation services for six months, including plowing, tilling and land clearing to help farmers replant faster. Additionally, RADA has procured $50 million worth of seeds that will impact 1,000 hectares of vegetables roots and tubers in strategic zones, and has started distributing more than 500,000 sweet potato slips and other clean planting material through the Bodles Research Station.

Edmondson noted that Hurricane Melissa impacted more than 7,000 farmers, and resulted in the loss of 43,570 hectares of crops and about 1.4 million animals. The storm damaged over 156,000 square feet of greenhouse space and disrupted 357 kilometres of farm roads, irrigation systems and marketing channels.