Cayman’s popular Agriculture Show has been cancelled for a second consecutive year, adding to troubles faced by farmers still struggling from losses suffered during the passage of Tropical Storm Grace last August and continued COVID-19 crowd restrictions.
The Agriculture Ministry and the Cayman Islands Agricultural Society announced Friday evening the decision to pull the plug on this year’s show, which is held every Ash Wednesday.
The family event, which provides farmers an opportunity to sell their produce and display their livestock, was last held in 2020 on 26 Feb.
In a statement, Agriculture Minister Jay Ebanks said the cancellation is a setback for agriculture, but the circumstances are understandable.
“I have spoken to a number of our commercial farmers who are focused on their farm rehabilitation and recovery efforts at this time. Over the past few months, Government has been working to support many of our farmers and I feel certain that they will be ready for the next staging of the event,” he said.
Tropical Storm Grace, which passed 20 miles south of Grand Cayman and 94 miles from Cayman Brac, became a Category 1 hurricane just after leaving the jurisdiction.
Thousands of trees were destroyed in the storm’s wake. Some houses and businesses were also severely impacted.
Though the losses to farmers were substantial, Ebanks stated that government injected “the largest one time investment in the agricultural sector through the Tropical Storm Grace Farmers’ Assistance Project“.
He said government also provided other grants “so they will have the resources to help strengthen their resilience to boost the Islands’ food and nutrition security”.
Last December, the Ministry reported that over 90 commercial farmers across Grand Cayman received a payment of $1.7 million from the Ministry under the Tropical Storm Grace Farmers’ Assistance Project.
Some 123 applications were received under the project and a total of 122 assessments of farms had been completed, with 106 applications approved for payment, the report had stated at that time.
Cayman Islands Agricultural Society President George Smith stated that members support the cancellation given the situation.
“The team at the Ministry and Department of Agriculture have assured us that they will find other ways to highlight the work of the farmers throughout the year,” Smith added.
Editor’s note: This article has been updated to correct an error which stated that the show was cancelled for a third year. The show was last staged in 2020 on 26 February. However the shows on the Sister Islands were cancelled that year. This is the second year the Grand Cayman show will not be staged. The error is regretted.
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