Agriculture Minister Floyd Green says two new water trucks will be added to the fleet this Friday, April 26, to assist with the trucking of water to farmers affected by the ongoing drought condition.

He made the announcement during a post-Cabinet press briefing on Wednesday, April 24.

The agriculture minister noted that these water trucks will service communities in St Elizabeth and St Catherine.

“Additional to the J$90 million that we have earmarked, we provided additional support for storage and irrigation system, so we targetted about 600 water tanks and about 400 12mm drip irrigation hoses and that distribution has already started,” Green noted.

Another J$8 million has been earmarked by the agriculture ministry to assist livestock farmers.

“Additionally, we have been working with our farmers to remain vigilant within this period to look out for updates from the Meteorological services, to also download if you have the capacity, the RADA [Rural Agricultural Development Authority] app that guide you not in relation to what is happening but also in relation to your pest management, you will see some increase in certain types of pest during this period and it is important that our farmers are paying attention to that,” Green added.

Farmers are being urged to take the necessary drought management steps such as practising mulching, planting drought-tolerant crops, planting cover crops, among others.

Jamaica is currently experiencing a meteorological, hydrological and agricultural drought.