MANDEVILLE, Manchester – Twenty-five months after being devastated by Hurricane Ivan, more than 900 registered coffee farmers, excluding those in the Blue Mountains, are now receiving cash and other incentives worth $15 million.

This was announced recently by the director-general of the Coffee Industry Board Graham Dunkley at a handing-over ceremony of cash grants to coffee co-operatives at the Kendal Conference Centre in Manchester.

The director-general said that the coffee industry would have to ensure that the distribution of the hurricane relief benefits from the Ministry of Agriculture is done in a transparent and accountable manner.

Farmers will have to sign, and have a document witnessed that they have received the benefits, he said.

Dunkley said this would enable the coffee board to withstand scrutiny from auditors and any source, including the contractor-general.

Giving details of how the farmers were selected, Dunkley said that the coffee industry first used the Hurricane Ivan claim list for Lowland Coffee Farmers and after consulting with stakeholders and reviewing production records, that list was “cleaned up”.

Dunkley claimed that the future of the industry was “good and bright” and that there was a great demand for Jamaican coffee, which remained the best in the world. The problem was that there was need for greater production, he said.

Dunkley said the Coffee Industry Board was seeking funding to assist farmers to produce coffee more effectively and in greater quantities.

He claimed that Jamaica’s coffee production represents less than half of one per cent of the world’s production.

Next year’s ICC World Cup cricket tournament in the Caribbean would present another opportunity for Jamaica to show off its superior brand of coffee, he said.

Dunkley said that since Hurricane Ivan the coffee industry had earned some $2.2 billion of which more than 50 per cent went directly to coffee farmers. He predicted that this year about $2.6 billion would be earned.