Dexia says the dasheen crops survived hurricane Maria and thousands of pounds have been exported

Dexia says the dasheen crops survived hurricane Maria and thousands of pounds have been exported. Operations Manager Bristol Lawrence said about three weeks after the hurricane, twenty-three thousand pounds of dasheen were received from local farmers for export to the United States. He said, “We did an initial assessment of the fields and we recognize that we had about fifty thousand pounds of dasheen which were available for export”.
 
Lawrence added that with so much dasheen on their hands, something had to be done, as it would have been too much for local consumption. He said “We therefore provided some to the national relief effort, because we cannot send food out while our people are suffering, so we did make a contribution towards relief as well”.
 
Meanwhile he said strategies for returning to full operation are being developed for the short, medium and long terms. The short term plan focuses on regional export, because the current volumes are insufficient for extra regional exports to the US or UK, so we are mainly looking at the French territories, where we have been exporting mainly dasheen, ginger and coconuts.”
 
Lawrence said most of the coconuts would have been affected on the farms they are trying to salvage what is on the ground and make the best use of it. He added that the Production Support Program continues, as farmers have been contracted for dasheen, plantain, yams and sweet potatoes.
 
He advised that cucumber seeds which they had on hand, were distributed to farmers, because it is a form of quick revenue, since it can be harvested after six weeks. Some farmers are said to be already reaping the cucumbers from seeds supplied to them.