St Elizabeth farmers count millions in losses after Hurricane Melissa

Farmers across St Elizabeth are counting heavy losses amounting to millions of dollars after Category 5 Hurricane Melissa tore through the parish earlier this week, flattening fields and destroying crops.

When Barbados TODAY visited the Gilnock district on Friday, bowed corn stalks, uprooted pumpkin vines, and muddy fields stretched as far as the eye could see, a harsh picture of the storm’s impact on one of Jamaica’s key agricultural belts.

Farmer Conroy Grindley said he lost nearly all of his produce.

“I have lost over an acre and a half of corn, another three and a half acres of pumpkin, about two squares of scotch bonnet peppers, watermelon, and at the front we’ve lost about an acre of sweet cassava,” he explained. “The loss here is really bad.”

Asked to estimate a figure, Grindley didn’t hesitate.

“Millions,” he said. Despite the devastation, he said he was already preparing to start again.

“To be honest, we have to lift our heads high and start all over again. You can’t just look and say you lose — you have to make the next step and move on again,” he said. “Today I went to get some potted soil to set some more seeds to plant back, so I’m looking at the way forward. It’s one of those natural disasters we couldn’t prevent, so we just have to pick ourselves up and move on.”

Grindley appealed for government assistance to help farmers recover.

“We need assistance from the ministry in terms of seeds, fertilizer, and help with a tractor to plough the lands to help with the preparation,” he said.

Another farmer, Conroy Wright, said he lost close to 2,000 pounds of pumpkin, valued at about J$200 per pound. He also lost livestock, a ram and a mother goat, during the storm.

“I’ve lost a lot in the past,” Wright said. “Hurricane Melissa come and take the rest.”

The farmers’ losses mirror what agricultural authorities have described as severe damage to food crops and infrastructure across southern and western Jamaica, where Melissa made landfall on Tuesday before tearing across the island.

Across Gilnock and surrounding communities, the remains of flooded fields, toppled trees, and shredded leaves bore silent witness to the storm’s force and to the difficult road to recovery that lies ahead.

shannamoore@barbadostoday.bb