What will it take to rebuild Jamaica’s food system after Hurricane Melissa? todayheadline

In the three weeks since Hurricane Melissa struck Jamaica, with destructive winds of up to 185 miles per hour, authorities have been busy addressing immediate crises and assessing the damage. The strongest hurricane ever recorded to hit the Caribbean nation, Melissa collided with houses and property and downed power lines across the island, initially leaving around 70 percent of the country without electricity. Many roads still remain blocked thanks to intense flooding, landslides, and debris, making it more difficult for aid to reach those who live in the mountainous, more rural interior of the island. This week, authorities confirmed 45 lives were lost due to the hurricane; another 15 people are still reported as missing.

Melissa also hit Cuba, Haiti, and the Dominican Republic, where homes and farms were damaged, many thousands of people have been displaced, and dozens of people were killed. The losses across Jamaica have been even more sweeping. Last Tuesday, Prime Minister Andrew Holness said economic losses suffered by the island are equal to roughly 30 percent of last year’s gross domestic product. The United Nations Development Programme, or UNDP, later stated the figure is only likely to go up.   

Farmers and fisheries across the island, many of which were still in the process of rebuilding after 2024’s Hurricane Beryl, sustained tremendous losses to equipment, crops, and livestock. One of the regions hardest hit by Melissa was St. Elizabeth parish, an agricultural hub known as the breadbasket of Jamaica. Floyd Green, the agricultural minister, said this week that over 70,000 farmers and nearly 41,500 hectares of farmland were impacted by the storm. The devastation holds consequences for both farmers’ livelihoods, as well as the nation’s overall food security. Melissa has left tens of thousands in need of immediate food assistance, according to the UNDP. 

On Tuesday, the agricultural ministry announced a $3 billion plan to help producers rebuild, and will start distributing seeds this week. It’s a first step in what is sure to be a prolonged recovery process — one that poses serious questions about how to rebuild Jamaica’s food system, specifically at a time where climate change will make storms like this one more likely. 

“Farmers are trying to salvage what they can,” said Esther Pinnock, communications officer for Jamaica Red Cross. “But many will be starting from scratch.” 

Nearly one in five people in Jamaica works in agriculture, according to the World Bank. Crops like bananas, sugarcane, yams, and others are grown for both export and domestic consumption. Pinnock noted that while more urban areas like Kingston and St. Catherine were spared from the worst weather impacts, these centers are also feeling the devastation that the nation’s farmland has endured; markets like Kingston’s Coronation Market, typically bustling with local farmers selling produce, are notably emptier. 

Livestock producers have also suffered; Caribbean Broilers, one of the major poultry producers in Jamaica, told Pinnock that the company lost half of its poultry stock. Over a million animals across the agricultural sector died due to the storm, according to Green, the agricultural minister.

Because of the widespread devastation, humanitarian groups working in the area have largely focused on meeting communities’ immediate needs for food, water, and shelter. Water to Wine, a U.S.-based nonprofit focused on improving access to clean drinking water, has been working with schools and hospitals in Montego Bay to distribute thousands of water filters. “Without meeting these essentials, long-term recovery simply isn’t possible,” said Jennifer Jones, the head of Hunger Relief International. 

But aid has been slower to reach rural parts of the island. Relief for some Jamaicans has also been coming from informal channels. Marcia Wigley and Tay Simms, two friends living in New York City, recently raised thousands of dollars to send food and other essentials to their relatives living in Jamaica. 

“The biggest concern, and this is a huge concern for them, is food,” said Wigley, who has been able to contact family living in Manchester parish despite their limited cell service. Simms, whose uncle and cousin live in St. Elizabeth agreed. On her family’s land, coconut and mango trees were toppled, and their water tank was “completely ripped out of the ground,” said Simms.

Wigley and Simms surpassed their goal of raising $5,000 in two days, and are hoping to start shipping essentials like rice and flour, as well as shelf-stable forms of protein like tinned meats, soon. For them, it’s a small thing they can do now to provide some relief, before the long road ahead to recovery can begin. 

“It’ll take a while for them to be able to sustain themselves again,” said Wigley. “You can’t just grow crops overnight.” 

Some aid groups are already looking toward how Jamaicans can rebuild in a way that is appropriate for a different reality. After Hurricane Beryl, said Pinnock, Jamaica Red Cross worked to help farmers implement climate-smart agricultural practices — the idea being that these measures would leave them better prepared to withstand future storms. The organization educated growers on how to farm on hilly terrain in order to prevent flooding, as well as how to protect their livestock. 

Of course, Hurricane Melissa demonstrated that communities are likely to need even better measures to withstand storms made more intense due to global warming. “What we have in place is inadequate,” said Pinnock. She urged that future efforts at rebuilding will need to look “beyond what we know.”