The EU has granted J$280 million (£2.4m) to help the Jamaican banana industry recover from the devastation caused by hurricane Ivan in September 2004.
The assistance is likely to be distributed by the EU’s banana support programme, which has a long-term commitment to improving the efficiency of banana production and competitiveness in ACP countries.
Assistance will be delivered directly as fertiliser and other agrichemicals to control disease and provide growers with other necessary materials to enable them to replant.
Some 2,280 hectares of bananas were destroyed in the main banana producing areas of the island. More than 8,000 growers were affected.
According to reports in The Jamaica Observer, export and domestic producers have all now begun replanting. Vincent Thompson of the EU banana support programme was reported in the Observer estimating production should be running at 20 per cent of pre-Ivan levels by the end of next month. All farms would be back in full production by the end of July, he said.
The EU wants to provide direct assistance to small and medium-sized farmers to help them meet labour costs. It has donated some e48m in the last nine years to help Jamaica’s banana industry achieve economic viability and to improve the rural standard of living on the island.
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