Support for the rebuilding of Barbuda’s agriculture sector

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The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and other international donor agencies are working with all stakeholders in Barbuda to rebuild its agriculture sector.
A preliminary assessment, conducted in Barbuda last week, indicates that Hurricane Irma destroyed standing crops, agricultural infrastructure, machinery, a processing facility and equipment.
Jedidiah Maxim, director of agriculture, said a six-member team from the ministry visited the island last week to get a first-hand view of the devastation.
They were accompanied by a consultant from the FAO as well as a representative from the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA).
“Agriculture in Barbuda was devastated. Even though it was a small sector, we were in the process of implementing some serious developmental plans for the sector. Those plans are well underway regarding what we had in mind,” Maxim said.
He explained that the ministry will use the opportunity to rebuild the sector, adopting mitigation measures in the event of another disaster.
“We will revisit our plans to make certain that, whatever we are doing, we will take the kind of measures which will ensure that the impact of a disaster will be reduced if we should experience another hurricane.”
The ministry will have to work to reconstruct the roof from the agricultural station in Barbuda and conduct repairs at several other facilities.
(More in today’s Daily Observer)

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