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The updates sent by friends and neighbors on WhatsApp confirmed what fisher Prince Davis already feared: Hurricane Melissa put a hole in the stern of his 50-foot (15-meter) fishing boat, and damaged the cabin and back deck.
His father’s boat was nowhere to be found. The roof of the house Davis and his parents shared in the small Jamaican fishing community of White House in Westmoreland parish was also destroyed.
Davis was in Nicaragua, where he’d flown shortly before the storm to find new customers for his fish business. But now his livelihood, and the livelihoods of many in his community, were in peril.
“It’s going to be very rough” said Davis. “With the damage now, no one will be buying products.”
About 29 kilometers (17 miles) northwest in Amity, also in Westmoreland parish, Denver Thorpe lost 15 acres (6 hectares) of mango trees and two greenhouses on his farm.
“There’s absolutely nothing,” said Thorpe, a farmer and regional manager for the Jamaica Agricultural Society, a farmer advocacy organization.
Hurricane Melissa is blamed for at least 19 deaths in Jamaica, bringing catastrophic winds up to 185 mph (298 kph) and storm surge that wrecked homes and public infrastructure.
While official damage assessments are still underway, experts said it’s already clear that one of the strongest landfalling Atlantic hurricanes ever recorded also dealt a devastating blow to tens of thousands of Jamaican fishers and farmers who feed their families and nearby communities.
Similar impacts will be felt by some of Cuba and Haiti ’s small producers, said Lola Castro, World Food Program regional director for Latin America and the Caribbean.
“I would say every (crop) that was on the path has been damaged, there’s no discussion on that,” said Castro. “Some of the fruit trees may be recovered, some of the temporary crops will not be recovered at all.”
The destruction will impact how residents earn income and feed their families at a time when they must also rebuild homes and communities. There were already 10 million food-insecure people across the affected countries of Haiti, Jamaica and the Dominican Republic, said Castro. The WFP does not have that data for Cuba.
In Jamaica, the destruction comes just 15 months after Hurricane Beryl impacted more than 50,000 farmers and 11,000 fishers, and caused $4.73 billion Jamaican dollars (about $29 million) in losses, according to the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Mining.
“We were just about turning the corner,” said Thorpe.
‘The lifeblood of the most vulnerable’
Jamaica’s agriculture ministry did not respond to questions about sector impacts, but the country has more than 200,000 farmers tending livestock and growing bananas, melons, cocoa and much more.
The food produced is for domestic consumption and export — Jamaica is one of the world’s largest yam exporters and its coffee growers generate $25 million annually, according to the Jamaica Coffee Exporters Association.
Around 80% are small-scale producers, working on 2 hectares of land or less, said Donovan Campbell, geography professor and director of the University of the West Indies’ western campus.
“Small-scale fishing and small-scale farming is what most people use to make a living,” he said. “It is really the lifeblood of the most vulnerable in our society.”
Farmers use October rains to plant crops to harvest before Christmas. Before the storm, the agriculture ministry urged fishers to move equipment out of harm’s way and farmers to move livestock and harvest any crops they could.
The devastation exceeded most expectations. Officials Wednesday said St. Elizabeth parish, known as Jamaica’s “breadbasket,” was “ under water.” The parish had over 35,000 registered farmers and fishers as of 2022, according to the Jamaica Information Service.
For fishers, Davis said it’s not just losing boats, nets and traps that endangers their work. Without electricity, there’s no ice to store what they catch, and customers won’t buy what they can’t keep cold. Lack of tourism will hurt demand, too.
The slowdown is worse for fishers who use most of their catch to feed their families and sell a little extra, he said. “That small income every day maintains their house and their family and their school and children.”
There are also special risks for women producers, said Davis and Campbell, many of whom are heads of household who support their children with the small amounts they sell.
Compounding crises in Cuba and Haiti
Cuba and Haiti face similar challenges, exacerbated by their political and economic crises.
The storm unleashed terrible flooding in southern Haiti and is blamed for 31 deaths in the country, where hunger was already rising.
Castro of the World Food Program said the organization is concerned about the impact to some of Haiti’s female producers, from whom the WFP typically buys produce to supply local schools.
“We may need to bring food from other parts of the country if available or even having to import,” said Castro.
In Cuba, the evacuation of 735,000 people meant the country suffered no known deaths, but Melissa’s passage could worsen challenges in feeding Cubans. The country faces a severe economic crisis and spends some $2 billion annually importing food products.
Local officials said there was damage to plantain, corn and cassava crops, coffee, various vegetables and trees across the five affected eastern provinces.
Government officials said Melissa’s heavy rainfall did benefit dams and reservoirs, after the eastern part of the country had been suffering from a severe drought and water shortage.
“That is one of the silver linings,” said Margarita Fernandez, executive director of the Caribbean Agroecology Institute in Vermont. CAI is raising funds to send directly to farmers and cooperatives there. The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization also delivered seed to Cuba ahead of the storm, a spokesperson said.
Help arrives in phases
Relief efforts across the northern Caribbean are focused on immediate needs for now, as first responders and humanitarian organizations provide shelter, health care, food and clean water, and restore power and communications.
Food producers will soon need cash to make up for lost income, help replacing equipment and animals as well as new seed.
The Jamaican government keeps reserve funds, parametric insurance policies and catastrophe bonds for disasters. The government and nonprofits helped farmers and fishers after Hurricane Beryl replace what they lost.
But it can take a long time for that help to reach small scale producers, said Campbell.
With airports open again, Davis is looking for a flight to get back to White House. He needs to fix his boat, and his roof, but he doesn’t know when he will sell fish again.
“My worry is about when will the economy will be back to normal, where life goes on as it was before,” said Davis. “Everyone is picking up the pieces.”
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Associated Press writer Andrea Rodríguez contributed reporting from Havana.
