While being unable to provide a timeframe for when the agricultural sector is likely to be fully recover from the damages caused by Hurricane Beryl, Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Mining, Floyd Green, has said it will take more than $8 billion for the sector to return its pre-Beryl state.
However, Green said he appreciates that the Government will not be able to provide that full cost, but noted that $700 million has already been allocated to provide various forms of short-term assistance to farmers and fishers locally.
The local agriculture and fisheries sector has recorded damages of up to $5.7 billion, the minister reported in Parliament on Tuesday.
In addressing Wednesday’s post-Cabinet press briefing, Green was asked to provide a timeline for the full recovery of the sector.
“It’s a good question, but let me put some things in context. So, we normally report on the loses we’ve suffered.
“We’ve suffered $4.7 billion on the agricultural side and $1 billion on the fisheries side, which would be $5.7 billion in total,” Green explained.
“Normally, the rule of thumb is that the cost of recovering is one-and-a-half times that, so it will take us over $8 billion to get back to where we were prior to Beryl,” he added.
The minister said the situation is “unfortunate”, as the agriculture and fisheries sector was on a “good trajectory” prior to Hurricane Beryl’s passage.
“Despite the drought last year, towards the end of last year, we got back into growth, and we’ve been growing for the quarters, and I can tell you the farmers have been expanding their hectares, (and) they’ve been… more productive,” Green stated..
In noting that it will take a “significant injection” of funds to get the agricultural sector back on stream, Green said the Government “won’t be able to… put back in $8 billion (into the sector), but the $700 million is a start.”
Continuing, he said: “The quicker you’re able to respond, it brings down the length of time it takes to recover”.
Green said the ministry will speak to the Finance and the Public Service Ministry to see if more funds can be made available to continue additional recovery efforts, such as repairing farm roads and storage areas.
“I can’t give a timeframe in terms of when we (the agricultural and fisheries sector) will get back to where we are coming from.
“What I do know is that based on our resilience, and based on the fact that we’ve been in instances like this before, and we’ve bounced back even stronger, we will come back stronger,” Green declared.
He said the local farmers will plant again and the fishermen will increase their fishing activities, which will increase their financial outlook post-Beryl.
