The grant to banana workers amounts to €100,000 (J$11,200,000) and is being spearheaded by the Rural Agricultural Development Authority (RADA), under the observance of the Ministry of Agriculture.

Winston Simpson, director of marketing, production and special projects at RADA, explained that 11 community groups, consisting of at least five persons, are to benefit from the grant to be implemented later this week.

"This is another venture with EU and the Jamaican Government to assist farmers and workers of the banana sector," said Simpson.

Among the business ventures to be undertaken by the groups are agro-processing, apiary farming (honey production), goat breeding, layer production and hot pepper growing.

Alternative

"These are persons seeking an alternative after being displaced," said Simpson.

Each beneficiary group, all from the six traditional banana parishes, will receive a maximum of €10,000 (J$1,120,000).

The signing of the grant between the EU and the Government is scheduled for this Thursday.

Last October, more than 400 banana workers were laid off after Jamaica Producers, one of the main industry stakeholders, abandonded the export market. The decision to exit the market in the United Kingdom was made after Tropical Storm Gustav last August destroyed fields the company had replanted after a battering from Hurricane Dean a year before.

Another obstacle also rocked the banana sector. In July, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade had to implement measures to prevent a fallout in the banana industry after the country's loss of European tariff preferences. The lowering of tariffs on non-African, Caribbean and Pacific imports into Europe is to decline from the current €176 per tonne to €114 per tonne by 2016.