EU $630-m banana pact
THE European Union (EU) yesterday signed a $630 million banana support agreement with the Jamaican Government.
Under the first phase of the programme, farmers affected by Hurricane Dean in August last year will receive $222 million in assistance over the short term.
The remainder – $408 million – will fund a rural diversification programme in the six traditional banana growing parishes – Portland, St Mary, St Thomas, St James, Clarendon and St Catherine – and will be extend until 2012.
Agriculture Minister Christopher Tufton said the Rural Agricultural Development Authority (RADA) will administer the programme to ease the dependence on banana in these parishes. Projects in livestock, fisheries and greenhouse vegetable cultivation, he said, were being considered.
“This is expected to provide alternative livelihoods and stimulate economic growth in these communities,” Tufton said at the signing held at the Ministry of Agriculture in Kingston.
The minister said that as part of the $222 million allocation, “fertiliser, fungicides and orchard oil” would be distributed to banana and plantain farmers who suffered losses from Hurricane Dean.
“Some 1,047 farmers cultivating 2,588 hectares of banana and plantain were affected by the hurricane, which damaged a reported 93 per cent of the industry,” Tufton said.
Head of delegation of the European Commission, Marco Mazzocchi Alemani, however, questioned the lack of long-term strategies to effectively deal with the recurring hurricane damage in the local banana industry.
“I strongly recommend that some of the remaining EU banana programme resources are used to help farmers and the industry to develop alternative mechanisms for coping with hurricanes in the future,” Alemani suggested.