Above: farmer Dwight Saywer lost his entire banana crop. Also pictured: BAIC Executive Chairman Edison Key and Assistant GM Arnold Dorsett (BIS Photo/Gladstone Thurston)

The Bahamian Agricultural and Industrial Corporation has stepped in to help farmers on Grand Bahama whose crops were wiped out by Hurricane Irene.

“From what I saw, the famers suffered extensive damage,” said Edison Key, BAIC executive chairman, who led a high-level BAIC delegation to survey damaged farms on the eastern end of Grand Bahama. “We came to see what kind of assistance we can give them.”

Key said BAIC would make recommendations to the Ministry of Agriculture to make recommendations about what BAIC can do to help the farmers get back on their feet.

Much of the crop damage came from high winds and extensive sea water flooding — with damaged crops including bananas, plantains, pineapples and guavas, among others.

“Some of the farms are poorly located, and every time there is a hurricane they get flooded out with salt water and lose all their crops,” Key said. “We are advising them to relocate to higher ground.”

–Bahamas Information Service