16.5 million dollars - that's who much the citrus industry said it lost due to Hurricane Earl. All the industry stakeholders met with the Ministry of Agriculture where they totaled the loss at 569,444 boxes of oranges and 133,585 boxes of grapefruit. Growers say they need to re-fertilize groves to put back leaves that were lost due to "wind whip."
And so now the industry sent a release today making it public that they are asking government for financial assistance to growers. They also want the Central Bank to make the commercial banks and lending institutions restructure loans. Back to government, they want a two year moratorium on land tax payments, duty free diesel, and faster GST reimbursements.
There's no response from government yet, but we know that the equally devastated banana industry has asked for help and government's standing position is that it is strapped for cash and cannot help.
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