Acting Agri Minister: 'Drought serious but not catastrophic'
Published:Tuesday | July 29, 2014 | 1:39 PM
The agriculture ministry says there is no need for panic about a possible food shortage because of the islandwide drought.
At a press conference at the Agriculture ministry this morning, acting agriculture minister Derrick Kellier said while the situation is serious, it is not catastrophic.
Kellier says while 1,600 hectares of crops and pastures valued at more than $900 million has been lost to drought or fire, the total area of arable land under production is approximately 200,000 hectares.
And he says the ministry will be putting in place a number of measures to ease the effects of the drought.
Kellier says $30 million is to be allocated to RADA to increase production in areas with sufficient access to water.
He says members of parliament have been invited to formulate programmes to save crops and livestock that are being stressed by drought conditions by, for example, trucking water to farmers.
A further $3 million has been transferred to RADA to assist farmers affected by losses due to fires.
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