With Hurricane Melissa wiping out large sections of traditional farmland, new opportunities have opened for households and small producers to supply restaurants and supermarkets now facing shortages of leafy greens through hydroponic farming. The push to adopt the technique is being led by Agriculture Minister Floyd Green and a hydroponic supplier and farmer who was able to restore his own production within two days of the hurricane's impact.
"I believe hydroponics is the way forward in terms of how quickly we can turn around crop yields after a disaster such as Melissa," Jermaine Bryan, CEO of Blueprint Farms, told the Jamaica Observer in an interview.
With traditional farming now slowed down by waterlogged soil, delayed replanting timelines and potential soil contamination, recovery in the hardest-hit areas could take weeks. Hydroponic systems, however, can help fill some of the immediate supply gaps, particularly for leafy greens such as lettuce, pak choi, kale, callaloo and mint, which suffered severe hurricane damage. Unlike soil-based farming, hydroponic operations can be restored within two to four weeks after a natural disaster, compared to up to six weeks for traditional methods, and can deliver higher output in smaller spaces. The systems are fully detachable, allowing them to be disassembled and secured ahead of a weather event and quickly reassembled once conditions improve.
"You use approximately 90 per cent of less water in terms of outfield farming and less dependence of imported goods and the crop consistency can be a year-round production as well," Bryan said.
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