Banana farmers have appealed for government support after severe winds associated with the passage of Category Four Hurricane Beryl blasted through their farms, snapping and uprooting banana trees. Agriculture Minister Alfred Prospere has promised to provide the affected farmers with as much support as possible. Regarding the damage caused by the hurricane's passage to banana and plantain crops, Prospere, who has been visiting affected regions, said it was too early to assess. He said the damage to the plantations, especially in the valley, appeared much worse than he had witnessed in the South of Saint Lucia.

Nevertheless, the Minister declared that the damage was nowhere near what farmers experienced when Tropical Storm Bret decimated over 75 per cent of Saint Lucia's banana and plantain crops on June 22 last year.

To make the situation worse, Bret struck as farmers struggled to grow enough bananas to meet international demand. The Minister recalled that the government had assisted the farmers with banana boxes and fertilisers.

Regarding the damage from Hurricane Beryl to banana and plantain crops, the Minister said the situation could have been worse.

In this year's budget, the government allocated $600,000 to begin the process of crop insurance.

"We have been in discussion with three insurance companies but the three options that they gave us, it does not really offer the farmer enough. So, we are still negotiating how we can get a better premium, a better level of compensation for the farmer," Prospere disclosed.

He hoped the other Caribbean countries would join the insurance initiative but revealed that only Saint Lucia, Antigua, and Guyana had shown significant interest.