In the aftermath of over 30 explosive eruptions of the La Soufriere volcano in St Vincent and the Grenadines, the country’s agriculture sector has been decimated– costing the island more than EC$150 million (Eastern Caribbean dollars).
That is over TT$377 million
In a release from the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA), the country’s Agriculture Minister Saboto Caesar said the explosive eruptions are affecting the availability and affordability of food on the island.
Caesar, who was speaking before the IICA Special Advisory Commission on Management Issues, outlined the issues facing the country.
“We are facing a catastrophe in agriculture, fishing, road infrastructure and other areas. We have problems that affect food security and sovereignty, the affordability, accessibility and availability of food is at risk,” he said.
As he thanked the countries and organisations that have assisted the SVG, Caesar said the country needs help to address this humanitarian crisis.
Caesar said the $150 million loss has caused strong negative impacts on family farming and micro-producers in the country, as well on the percentage of agriculture in the GDP.
He said the SVG Government will launch a platform for the reconstruction of the agricultural sector soon.
To do this, they require assistance.
He said, “I would like to underscore the importance of this reciprocity, and I am confident that we will continue to receive support at this very difficult time. I am requesting your efforts to mobilize resources in the most adequate way to assist farmers, fishermen and others in need.”
Caesar said the Government would present a document to the IICA in the next few days.
Since La Soufriere began to explosively erupt on April 9, some 20,000 people living in the red and orange zones of the volcano have had to evacuate, fleeing their homes and leaving everything they own behind.
As Caesar said, farmers were especially hard hit, losing their crops to the ash that blanketed fields and homes alike.
Lennox Lampkin is one such farmer.
His farm is located in Rose Hall, in the volcano’s orange zone.
In an interview with Guardian Media, he said he plants mostly fruit crops, including sour sop, papaya (paw paw), guavas, and avocadoes.
He does not export to Trinidad but said he has gotten requests for pulp from T&T.
Before La Soufriere erupted explosively Lampkin’s was going to invest in machinery to start pulping so he could begin to export.
But like many others on the island, he is left now to count his losses.
“I have had maybe 70 to 80 per cent devastation but I think maybe in the long run when I prune back, I will probably lose about 60 per cent of my production of avocadoes going forward. I lost quite a lot of avocadoes that were just going to get into production phase…because of the heavy ash fall, a lot of the trees were broken down,” Lampkin said.
He also lost three of the 19 sheep he farmed on the first day of the explosive eruptions.
And while Mother Nature has put him in this predicament, Lampkin will have to wait for Her to act again before he can start to rebuild.
“I am just waiting on rain, because if rain falls, I still have a few inches of ash on the farm on the ground… so there is not much I can do at this point. I am actually prepared to replant as soon as the rain comes, if that is next week, that means I will start next week,” he said.
Lampkin said he has a half-acre plot that he can plant short crops on as he explained it would not be practical for him to sit around and wait.
And as he keeps a watchful eye on La Soufriere, Lampkin is also anticipating the upcoming hurricane season.
“I am going to focus on taking the farm completely off the grid, going solar so that I am prepared because remember, in the next 36 to 37 days, we are into the 2021 hurricane season because we are in the hurricane belt.”
He said in addition to the immediate need for potable water on the island, farmers will also need agricultural supplies, including seeds.
Lampkin said the volcano’s recent eruptions have not more ash on his farm, as the eruptions are heavy but wide, with less vertical force.
