Scores of farmers in St Elizabeth and other western parishes devastated by Hurricane Melissa are expected to benefit from a US$50-million ($7.9 billion) recovery and resilience programme to be rolled out by the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Mining. The initiative is funded by the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO) and is scheduled to begin in September.

The announcement was made on Wednesday during a tour of hurricane-affected farming communities in St Elizabeth by FAO Assistant Director-General and Regional Representative for Latin America and the Caribbean René Orellana Halkyer, along with officials from the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Mining, France, Belgium, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade.

“The [state] minister [Franklin Witter] has guided us to the farms where we are assessing the impact of the recent hurricane,” Halkyer said. “FAO is an organisation that reacted quickly when the hurricane passed through this region, and we have, with the guidance of the government, managed the projects and the funds that will soon be implemented in the region of US$50 million.”