Fire blazes through Jamaican plantations, Jm$500m damage caused

Last weekend an estimated 350 acres of arable land in Jamaica went up in flames. The fires raged, pushing through fields in Flamstead and the surrounding Mavis Bank vicinity, destroying cash crops without mercy.

The inferno was described as “the worst in the history of the area,” said one resident and has severely affected the Caribbean nation’s coffee farmers who grow the prized Blue Mountain variety that the island is famed for.

According to some reports, a total of 150 acres of land were completely scorched, potentially causing losses in the region J$200m to the local and national economy.

Worryingly however, that was a one of the lower predictions we’ve seen. Norman Grant, president of the Jamaica Agricultural Society and CEO of the Mavis Bank Coffee Farm, bluntly stated that it could be as much, much higher: “I would not be surprised that when all the estimates [are in], that the loss could be in the Jm region in terms of the loss of income…loss of crops and [property] damage.”

“It has affected the spirit of the farmers,” he said.

It’s also the second straight year that crop has been affected by raging bush fires.

At the moment it is seemingly unclear how the fire started, but once it took hold firefighters had a hard time controlling the flames which was spurred on by heavy winds. However a story, mentioned by the Jamaica Observer, attributes the blaze to a woman who had set a mattress alight.

But we can only stress that the cause hasn’t been identified yet.

“It’s an unfortunate development and it will surely impact the coffee industry,” commented Coffee Industry Board chairman Delano Franklyn.

The fire has come at a really bad time of the Jamaican coffee industry, with some industry analysts saying that it’s at its lowest point in three decades due to drought, leaf rust and an infestation of berry borers – not to mention an increase in counterfeiting.

In the last fiscal year, coffee exports earned Jamaica Jm$1.3bn ($12m) in revenue.

photo: Travis Modisette (Flickr – Creative Commons)