Minister of Agriculture, Hon. Saboto Caesar while speaking on radio recently discussed the impact that the explosive eruption of the La Soufriere volcano has had on agriculture. In doing so, he said that the country’s plantain and banana industries have taken a beating as a result of the eruption.
Minister Caesar said that the leaves of the banana and plantain plants were put under tremendous amount of ash that had fallen on them; this issue was then augmented by rainfall which has resulted in a lot of leaf loss. Caesar said this will have a direct impact on the ability of the plants in the fruiting stage.
He also noted that this current situation will have an adverse effect on agro-processors who process plantains, drawing reference to the well over 40 plantain chip producers in SVG who have their products in supermarkets across the country.
