Shand

Albert Shand, executive director of the Rural Agricultural Development Authority, says that 60 per cent of more than 900 pounds of vegetable seeds have been distributed to farmers islandwide who suffered loss from Hurricane Dean.

The Ministry of Agriculture and Lands had allocated $10 million, under its hurricane rehabilitation programme, for the acquisition of top-quality hybrid seeds to be distributed to vegetable growers whose crops were destroyed by the hurricane which hit the island August 19.

Speaking with The Gleaner, Mr. Shand said 976 pounds of vegetable seeds were purchased late October for distribution to some 9,600 farmers whose fields were assessed.

The vegetable seeds distributed include cabbage, carrot, tomato, sweet pepper, watermelon, cantaloupe, cucumber and cauliflower.

The distribution of the seeds has, however, been hampered by the persistent rains that have been affecting the island for some weeks now, Mr. Shand said. Despite the setback, he is confident that by Christmas some vegetable crops should be back in the marketplace.

"We looked at the marketplace and saw which vegetables were in short supply and tried to distribute seeds for those crops," he explained.