Nine million gallons of water trucked to Jamaica farmers as drought intensifies – Holness

Jamaica Prime Minister Andrew Holness

Caught up in a debilitating drought that is impacting the various sectors of social and economic life on the island, Caribbean Community (CARICOM) member state, Jamaica, has been compelled to pay particular attention to the impact of the water scarcity on the country’s agriculture sector.  A Wednesday April 10 Jamaica Observer report has disclosed that the scale of the drought has been sufficiently severe as to cause the authorities to be compelled to truck nine million gallons of water to approximately nine hundred farmers in various parts of the country. The impact of the drought and the government’s reaction thereto has been deemed sufficiently significant to have caused the disclosure of the government’s response by Jamaican Prime Minister Andrew Holness himself. As part of his disclosure, Prime Minister Holness also reported that government had also responded to the drought by allocating J$150 million in an effort to ‘roll back’ the effects of which have been particularly impactful in several of the country’s farming parishes.