WhatsApp updates from friends and neighbors confirmed what fisherman Prince Davis already feared: Hurricane Melissa had ripped a hole in the stern of his 50-foot (15-meter) fishing boat and damaged the cabin and back deck.
His father’s boat was nowhere to be found. The roof of the home Davis and his parents shared in the small Jamaican fishing community of White House in Westmoreland Parish was also destroyed.
Davis was in Nicaragua, where he flew just before the storm to find new customers for his fish business. But now his livelihood and that of many in his community are at stake.
“It’s going to be very rough,” Davis said. “Now, because of the damage, no one will buy the products.
About 29 kilometers (17 miles) northwest in Amity, also in Westmoreland Parish, Denver Thorpe lost 15 acres (6 hectares) of mango trees and two greenhouses on his farm.
“There is absolutely nothing,” said Thorpe, a farmer and regional director of the Jamaica Agricultural Society, a farmers’ rights organization.
Hurricane Melissa is blamed for at least 28 deaths in Jamaica, packing winds of up to 185 mph (298 km/h) and a storm surge that destroyed homes and public infrastructure.
While official damage assessments are still underway, experts said it was clear that one of the strongest Atlantic hurricanes ever recorded also dealt a devastating blow to tens of thousands of Jamaican fishermen and farmers who feed their families and nearby communities.
Some small producers in Cuba and Haiti will feel a similar impact, said Lola Castro, the World Food Program’s regional director for Latin America and the Caribbean.
“I would say every (seed) that’s been on the road has been damaged, there’s no debate about that,” Castro said. “Some fruit trees may recover, some temporary crops will not recover at all.”
The destruction will affect how residents earn income and feed their families at a time when they will also have to rebuild their homes and communities. Castro said 10 million people were already food insecure in the affected countries of Haiti, Jamaica and the Dominican Republic. WFP does not have such data for Cuba.
The destruction in Jamaica comes just 15 months after Hurricane Beryl affected more than 50,000 farmers and 11,000 fishermen and caused $4.73 billion in damages, according to the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Mines. USD (about USD 29 million) losses.
“We were going to turn the corner,” Thorp said.
“The lifeblood of the most vulnerable”
Jamaica’s Ministry of Agriculture did not respond to questions about the impact on the sector, but the country employs more than 200,000 farmers who raise livestock and grow bananas, melons, cocoa and much more.
The food produced is for domestic consumption and export – according to the Jamaican Coffee Exporters Association, Jamaica is one of the largest exporters of yams in the world, with its coffee growers generating 25 million yams annually.
About 80% are small producers working on 2 hectares of land or less, said Donovan Campbell, professor of geography and director of the University of the West Indies’ western campus.
“Most people rely on small-scale fishing and small-scale farming for their livelihood,” he said. “It’s really the lifeblood of the most vulnerable in our society.”
Farmers use the October rains to plant crops to harvest before Christmas. Ahead of the storm, the Ministry of Agriculture urged fishermen to move equipment out of harm’s way and farmers to move livestock and harvest any crops.
The destruction exceeded most expectations. Officials announced Wednesday that St. Elizabeth Parish, known as the “breadbasket” of Jamaica, was “under water”. According to the Jamaica Information Service, in 2022 there were over 35,000 registered farmers and fishermen in the parish.
For fishermen, Davis said, it’s not just the loss of boats, nets and traps that puts their jobs at risk. Without electricity, there is no ice to store what they catch, and customers won’t buy what they can’t keep cold. The lack of tourism will also hurt demand.
He said the slowdown is worse for fishermen, who use most of their catch to feed their families and sell a little more. “This small income supports their home and family, school and children every day.
Women producers are also at particular risk, said Davis and Campbell, many of whom are heads of households who support their children on the small amounts they sell.
Complex crises in Cuba and Haiti
Cuba and Haiti face similar challenges, exacerbated by their respective political and economic crises.
The storm caused terrible flooding in southern Haiti and was blamed for 31 deaths in a country where famine was already on the rise.
Castro of the World Food Program said the organization was concerned about the impact on some Haitian producers from whom the WFP normally buys produce to supply local schools.
“We may have to bring in food from other parts of the country if possible or even import it,” Castro said.
In Cuba, the evacuation of 735,000 people meant that the country suffered no known deaths, but Melissa’s legacy could worsen Cubans’ feeding problems. The country is facing a major economic crisis and spends about 2 billion annually. USD for food imports.
Local officials said there was damage to plantain, maize and cassava crops, coffee, various vegetables and trees in the five affected eastern provinces.
Government officials said Melissa’s heavy rainfall had indeed benefited dams and reservoirs after the eastern part of the country suffered severe drought and water shortages.
“That’s one of the silver linings,” said Margarita Fernandez, executive director of the Caribbean Agroecology Institute in Vermont. CAI collects funds to send directly to farmers and cooperatives. The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations also delivered seeds to Cuba ahead of the storm, the spokesman said.
Help comes in stages
Relief efforts in the northern Caribbean are currently focused on immediate needs as first responders and humanitarian organizations provide shelter, health care, food and clean water, and restore power and communications.
Food producers will need cash soon to replace lost income, replace equipment and animals, and replace new seed.
The Government of Jamaica maintains reserve funds, parametric insurance policies and catastrophe bonds in case of disasters. Government and non-profit organizations helped farmers and fishermen replace what they lost after Hurricane Beryl.
But it could take a long time for that help to reach small producers, Campbell said.
With the airports reopening, Davis is looking for a flight back to the White House. He needs to fix the boat and the roof, but he doesn’t know when he will sell fish again.
“My concern is when the economy gets back to normal, where life goes on as before,” Davis said. “Everybody’s picking up the pieces.”
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Associated Press writer Andrea Rodríguez contributed reporting from Havana.