BASSETERRE, St. Kitts, May 22.2018 – WITH the start of the 2018 hurricane season several days away, the Department of Agriculture on St. Kitts is currently in the process of planning mitigation efforts so as not to have a long-term effect should a major storm hit St. Kitts and Nevis.
The federation is still rebounding from the effects left by Category Five Hurricanes, Irma and Maria. Last year the sector recorded over $10 million in damage from the passage of the storms.
Agriculture Director, Melvin James revealed that the Department has established a working committee that will be discussing the way forward in dealing with the passage of hurricanes during the 2018 season.
“In our last senior management meeting, we agreed that we will be forming a committee for hurricane mitigation. That committee will be meeting within the next two weeks and we will put out our detailed plans to assist the industry and farmers.”
The 2018 hurricane season starts on June 1 and will run until November 30.
Last year, St. Kitts and Nevis got the tail end of the two hurricanes which left substantial damage to the islands. According to government estimates, the storms left over $100 million in damage.
Director James told SKNVibes that they have already formulated what the committee will be, and their first meeting will be held shortly.
Not disclosing what plans they have for farmers to mitigate against major crop damage and losses, the Director noted that they have divided up the island into blocks and will allocate resources and make recommendations when and where necessary.
“The general recommendations for farmers are things like always monitor the weather reports. Even when planting you look at the period that the crop is going to be in the field; we look at the storage capacity that is both the individual and the department capacity.”
Further, he urged farmers to look at the type of crop that they can plant below ground rather than above during the season.
“We also want to give more specifics and that is what we are going to be able to do in the near future,” James stated.
Hurricane experts at the Colorado State University are predicting that the 2018 Atlantic Hurricane Season will be similar to 2017 or above normal.
The experts predict that there will be 14 named storms for the season.
According to officials, there were 10 hurricanes out of a total of 17 storms that were named last year.
