Last year, when Beryl slammed into the agricultural belt in southern Clarendon, St. Elizabeth, and Westmoreland, the food supply chain snapped, prices soared, and regular staples ran short in the marketplace.
Beryl’s attack on the Bread Basket sent the government, elements of the church, and an army of philanthropists into action. They busied themselves to build back affected communities and recover what they could in short order. Farmers were outfitted with seeds and fertiliser and reports quickly surfaced that things were looking up.
But Beryl’s brutality did not inspire change towards righteousness. The nation was determined to build back and bounce back to its old sins and the embrace of the various demons of the day.
If Beryl failed to signal to Jamaica that it is a nation under judgement, the arrival of Melissa left no doubt. Melissa, packing a more powerful punch than Beryl, did not only brutalise the Bread Basket, it completely demolished it. The Goliath-sized storm decimated communities, wiped out markets and businesses, and uprooted long-established sectors and systems.
In St. Elizabeth alone, Melissa flattened fields of yams, pumpkins, potatoes, and cassava, and caused billions in farm losses. As the storm moved across the parishes, it ripped the roofs from birdhouses and collapsed feed silos and other equipment, triggering a massive egg and chicken meat shortage on the island. The near total ruin of livestock investments and destruction of thousands of acres of crops mean that the food chain will not see any sign of recovery before early next year.
On their own, small farmers, who have been the backbone of the markets in every parish capital and the constant supply chain in supermarkets, cannot retrieve what the hurricane took. They cannot replant while in a place of desolation. Their immediate struggle is to replace their roofs and secure their families.
The Category 5 storm overwhelmed the government, no amount of resources on the land can fully foot the Bread Basket’s repair bill. Melissa has caused hunger to roll like thunder in bellies. It parched lips and escalated anger. The colossal wind-force also shut down communication systems and remittance lines. Daily, the crisis of the hurricane’s aftermath in communities worsens.
Facing wide-spread devastation, the government of Jamaica readied itself to build back better than pre-Beryl. The intensity of the hurricane should have driven the fear of God in any normal nation, but Jamaica is not a normal place. We are not a normal people. So even as communities remain marooned, waters continue to rise in too many places and diseases, stench, and decay threaten the fragments of life left behind, the government and the nation remain rebellious.
Both Beryl and Melissa added to a food security crisis on the island that has been worsening in recent years. Last year, the United Nations reported that over half of the population of Jamaica experienced moderate to severe food shortage between 2021 and 2023, and a notable portion was unable to afford a healthy diet.
The economy has been grappling with low domestic food production, high dependence on imports, and vulnerability to economic shocks and weather events. While the government has talked about prioritising food security through policies to increase local production, there has been no evidence that much was done to mitigate this crisis.
According to the UN report, thousands of families in Jamaica live on one unbalanced meal per day. Official data in Jamaica claims poverty increased by five percent last year, despite the government’s song and dance about a 4.5% unemployment rate. So, while more people may be working, many more also fall beneath the poverty line. Among the 95.5% that are said to be employed, many are not earning enough to properly feed themselves; hence, they are numbered among the working poor.
Rebellion against God coupled with cutthroat political gamesmanship work to worsen the nutrition crisis for hurting families and communities. Rebuilding the Bread Basket without repentance is foolhardy. Jamaica took this same nonsensical approach last year after Beryl. Doing the very same thing this year and expecting a different result is stupidity of the highest order.
But a stubborn, hard-headed, hard-hearted, hard-eared people will not relent. They fail to grasp the fact that food security is pegged to prosperity and that can only come from God, who controls the harvests. So, instead of calling the nation to repentance, the Prime Minister moved the disaster management operations to the ghetto of ministries at his office. This is hoped to assure the nation that he has many things under his direct control and is able to determine the best outcome. But without repentance, the Prime Minister is as hopelessly lost as the people.
This government is busy trying to rebuild the storm-battered tourism sector while bowing cap in hand to fallen nations and lapping up aid from beast bodies. They have ordered people to return to work and children to return to school. Regularly, they roll out press briefings about foreign aid, the provision of food and setting up of shelters, but nothing is said about making things right with God.
Without the Lord building back Jamaica any move towards normalcy, is only a step closer towards absolute chaos. Those who are busy with recovery programmes and public assurances, with no move towards national repentance, are labouring in vain. They are actually courting an oversized disaster waiting to happen.
An unrepentant government leading a rebellious people can only expect more destruction ahead. Floods, famines, pestilence, and diseases are largely the result of curses on the land, and curses come from the deliberate rejection of righteousness.
If the government will not relent, the people must seek God, wallow at His feet, and beg for mercy. This nation must humble itself, and lock down all sectors, systems, and operations for three consecutive days of sincere repentance, fasting, and prayer. Beryl was one thing; Melissa was worse. We may not survive what is ahead, if we do not repent.