Widely regarded as having the standout agro processing sector in the Caribbean, based on the success that its agro produce has enjoyed on the international market, Jamaica is reportedly focused on repairing the extensive damage that was inflicted on its huge farms that provide the various fruits, vegetables, spices and herbs that sustains the agro processing sector, raking in a significant share of the country’s foreign earnings.
One indication of the scale of the damage wreaked by Beryl, and the projected magnitude of the restoration exercise, is reflected in an article published in the Wednesday, July 10, issue of The Jamaica Observer which quotes the Chief Executive Officer of the Jamaica Producers Group, Jeffrey Hall, as saying that “over 90 per cent of the banana crops at the company’s St Mary farm was destroyed.”