The Jamaica Network of Rural Women Producers delivered emergency cash support to 50 rural women farmers on Tuesday, December 16, as part of an intervention aimed at supporting the recovery of those affected by Hurricane Melissa’s passage.

The initiative follows the JNRW securing insurance payouts for 30 women farmers for damages to their farms due to Hurricane Melissa under the CARE programme, a collaboration with CARE International and GK Insurance.

The cash grants aimed to aid beneficiaries in meeting urgent needs, including food, essential household items and basic medical care, as well as to support the replacement of critical assets lost during the Category 5 hurricane.

The beneficiaries of the initiative were from the parishes of Westmoreland, St Elizabeth and Hanover, which sustained significant agricultural losses during the passage of Hurricane Melissa on October 28. Most of the women who received grants are heads of rural households whom the JNRW prioritised for assistance following post-disaster assessments.

President of the JNRWP, Tamisha Lee, said the intervention aimed to restore dignity and choice among women farmers, allowing them to drive their own recovery.

“Hurricane Melissa sought to flatten our homes, but it will never break the spirit of our rural women. This cash transfer puts power back into the hands of women farmers, allowing them to decide what their families need to survive and rebuild,” Lee said.

She added that rural women must be seen as drivers of recovery, not passive recipients of aid.

“The women of rural Jamaica are not victims; they are resilient architects of our national recovery, and with this support, we are equipping them to move forward,” she added.

CARE International’s Caribbean Humanitarian Response Lead Jonathan Arogeti underscored the importance of people-centred disaster response.

“Following the devastation of Hurricane Melissa, this partnership is providing rural women farmers and their families, not just with cash but with choice and dignity. We are happy to partner with the JNRWP and the Clara Lionel Foundation to help these families respond to this emergency and to become a part of Jamaica’s national recovery,” Arogeti noted.

The cash assistance forms part of the JNRWP’s Targeted Resilience: Emergency Cash Support of the Most Vulnerable Female-Headed Agricultural Households Post Hurricane Melissa Project, and aims to support longer-term resilience among rural women farmers.