The Tribune

By YOURI KEMP

Hurricane Dorian has inflicted "quite staggering" $80m-plus damages on the Bahamian agricultural and fisheries industries, a Cabinet minister revealed yesterday.

Michael Pintard, minister of agriculture and fisheries, said the government was now determining what relief packages it can provide to producers given that Abaco is the leading agricultural island in The Bahamas.

Speaking ahead of yesterday's Cabinet meeting, Mr Pintard said of Dorian damage assessments: "The initial figures are quite staggering. Comfortably they are in excess of $80m from the initial reports that we have.

"Two of the three most important economies in The Bahamas have been devastated, with Abaco being arguably the leading economy as it relates to agriculture, with some of the major producers like Abaco Big Bird and Five Star Farms and others being on that island."

Mr Pintard sought to reassure farmers, saying: "We are now in the process of considering what package might the government, in conjunction with the international community, offer farmers and fishers who do not have insurance. Most of that sector does not have insurance and we have an obligation, in my mind, to assist them."

Confirming that more detailed assessments are ongoing, Mr Pintard added: "You have to actually find farmers and fishers as well to get their information and, up to yesterday, I have still been getting information from fishers affected in east Grand Bahama who we could not reach in the initial assessment."

When asked where the Government will find the funding to assist farmers, Mr Pintard said: "We have to re-prioritise resources we already have. Secondly, Cabinet has already approved extra spending for the various sectors, with agriculture being one of those sectors.

"The approval for the additional funds is clearly insufficient, and this is part of why we have to have discussions with international partners to see if we can find additional ways we can access resources to impact them."

He continued: "We have to make a determination on how much would be given to not just registered farmers, but also unregistered farmers. Because we have some farmers who were not functioning due to illness or even as a result of the previous hurricane were not functioning in the period of time after those personal tragedies or environmental tragedies."

"There may be an unregistered farmer who, in reality, had it not been for their personal tragedy would be registered and would benefit… In my mind they should benefit."

Mr Pintard reiterated his appeal for the agricultural community to provide all necessary information so that the Government, along with international aid agencies conducting the assessments, can have a better idea on how significant Dorian's impact was on their facilities, equipment, vehicle and products - whether plants or livestock, or processed inventory that food processors may have.

He reaffirmed that officials from his ministry, along with international specialists from the Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO), the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture and the Caribbean Agricultural Research and Development Institute have completed their initial rapid assessment on Abaco and Grand Bahama.