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Agriculture Minister Calls for Setting Up of Farmers Insurance Programme

Contact: John Emmanuel

Wednesday, September 25, 2002 - With reports of banana farmers in Cul-De-Sac, Roseau and the Mabouya Valley having suffered crop damages anywhere between 40 – 80 %, as a result of the passage of Tropical Storm Lilli on Monday, September 23, 2002 an urgent call has been issued here for the setting up of an independent facility that will provide insurance to farmers in times of distress.

The latest call has come from Agriculture Minister Senator Calixte George, who on Tuesday carried out an extensive tour to assess the extent of agricultural damage on the island. Senator George indicated that such a programme would augment what ever assistance farmers would receive from Government and other international agencies. He noted that already discussions were underway with European Union personnel concerning a possible package of assistance to farmer, following Monday’s weather system.

Meantime Minister George has praised farmers for implementing various modern agricultural practices passed on by extension officers. According to him the nature of the damage reveals a huge amount of snapping of banana trees as oppose to toppling. That trend he notes indicates that farmers are applying appropriate nematode control measures and are adequately caring for their fields.

“Concerning the nature of the damage, it reveals a lot of snapping of plants rather than toppling which is a good sign. It shows that farmers have been taking care of their plantations and are using the information that extension officers are passing on to them. If that was not the case you would have found a lot of toppling of plans displaying a very poor root system. All of this tells us that as far a nematode control is concerned, farmers are doing a good job,” Said Minister George.

The latest damage caused to the industry comes at a time when farmers and the country were beginning to see the first signs of a possible recovery in the banana industry, after it recorded the worst draught in 40 years in 2001, which resulted I n dramatic shortfalls in production. Agricultural officials recently returned to the island after a major fact-finding activity in the UK, designed to further promote St. Lucian bananas to major supermarket chains.

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