Ellerslie Pen, Spanish Town, St. Catherine | Tel.: (876) 984-5005 | www.foodforthepoorja.com
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
MEDIA RELEASE
FOOD FOR THE POOR TO ASSIST POST- HURRICANE
RECOVERY OF SMALL FARMERS IN ECONOMIC DIVERSIFICATION PROGRAMME
Spanish Town, St. Catherine – October 27, 2012: Food
For The Poor is conducting a preliminary assessment of the impact of Hurricane
Sandy on small farmers in St. Mary and St. Thomas, who are participants in the Economic
Diversification Programme For Banana Producing Parishes. Once
the audit is complete, the charity will be assisting farmers who have
sufferrred losses, to resuscitate their production.
The Economic Diversification Programme For Banana
Producing Parishes seeks to provide alternative income-generating
opportunities for small farmers, who traditionally cultivated bananas. It is financed by the European Union through the European Union Banana Support Programme (EUBSP), and
implemented by Food For The Poor (FFP).
 |
| Norvel Bedward (right), Agriculturalist, Food For The Poor (FFP) Jamaica, listened attentively to Daley Dawson (left), as he explained how he maintains healthy plants for the production of quality scotch bonnet peppers. Mr. Bedward was on a visit to the farm in early October. Mr. Dawson is one of the 20 recipient farmers under the Economic Diversification Programme for Banana Producing Parishes in Esher, St. Mary. On Wednesday, October 24, the farms of several of the recipient farmers in St. Mary and St. Thomas were damaged, as a result of Hurricane Sandy. |
The charity is reporting that its investigations have
so far revealed that 70% of the pepper plants established throughout the
participating farms in Somerset, St. Thomas were damaged. Selena
Ledgister-Kellier, FFP Agriculture and Fishing Manager discloses that pepper
plants and peppers were destroyed as a result of the heavy winds and flooding
of the Morant River caused by the hurricane. “Many farmers have lost their
ready to harvest peppers,” Ms. Ledgister-Kellier pointed out. “The Morant River has cut off some of our farmers in
Somerset and the situation makes it impossible for us to do a proper assessment
at this time.”
The FFP Agriculture
Manager is assuring that FFP will be assisting the farmers to recover from the
losses incurred as a result of Hurricane Sandy. “We hope that by Monday or as
soon as the river recedes, we will be able to distribute seedlings, fertilizer
and welfare, to expedite the recovery effort,” she says.
With regard to
the Esher community in St. Mary, FFP has outlined that the bee colonies and
pepper plants have been “severely damaged.”
The charity reports that ready to
harvest peppers got blown off the plants. “Some bee boxes were damaged by
fallen trees and debris. The bees are contained and repairs are being carried out
on the boxes,” explains Ms. Selena Ledgister-Kellier. FFP has committed to providing assistance to the affected farmers by
early next week.
Relating his experience with the hurricane, one of the affected farmers
in Esher, Delroy Robinson, says he has lost thousands of dollars in earnings
due to Hurricane Sandy: “I had a lot of peppers ready to reap, and was planning
to reap on Wednesday, but the hurricane change those plans. My fields got
flooded out and a lot of trees also fall down and mash up the peppers.” Mr.
Robinson laments that he has lost an estimated 300 pounds of peppers.
“My beehives don’t suffer any damage, because I use some building blocks
to help hold the box dem in place, so the winds from Sandy don’t trouble them,”
reports Mr. Robinson. Today, Mr. Robinson and several of his colleagues in St.
Mary started to clean up debris from their hurricane-ravaged fields.
The Economic Diversification Programme For
Banana Producing Parishes was launched in June and will run for 16
months. So far, some 14,101 pounds of peppers have been reaped by farmers in
St. Mary and 13,508 pounds reaped by farmers in St. Thomas. The Programme is providing a total of 40 small farmers in the
traditional banana producing areas of Somerset, St. Thomas and Esher, St. Mary,
with the materials, training and technical support necessary to engage in
sustainable production of scotch bonnet peppers, goats and bees/honey. Most of the farmers participating in the
project occupy holdings between 0.4 hectares and 2.4 hectares.
The primary partners/implementers of the project are
the European Union through the EUBSP, and
Food For The Poor. The Ministry of
Agriculture and Fisheries has the oversight for the Programme, while the Rural
Agricultural Development Authority (RADA) assists with its implementation.
Contacts:
Erica James-King|Communication Manager | PROComm l (876) 564-5277 or
(876) 926-6740
Petri-Ann Henry | Public Relations Officer
l Food For The Poorl (876) 564-2886 | petri-annh@foodforthepoorja.org l Public Relations Dept. :(876) 907-3664
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