Hurricane Fiona broken Puerto Rico’s plantain crops, like this discipline in Guánica, Puerto Rico.
José Jiménez/Getty Photos
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José Jiménez/Getty Photos
Hurricane Fiona broken Puerto Rico’s plantain crops, like this discipline in Guánica, Puerto Rico.
José Jiménez/Getty Photos
Puerto Rico’s plantains — a key staple in residents’ diets — have been among the many crops hit so exhausting by Hurricane Fiona that the island possible will not have the ability to produce any for the upcoming vacation season.
Ramón González Beiró, the secretary of the Puerto Rico’s division of agriculture, introduced that the overwhelming majority of fields have been misplaced because of the storm’s heavy downpour and can take months to be restored, a number of Puerto Rican information shops reported. Banana, papaya and low fields have been additionally battered by the storm. He estimated the island’s agricultural business will lose about $100 million.
NPR has reached out to the secretary and can replace after we get a remark.
Cities, cities and villages all through Puerto Rico are assessing the destruction brought on by Fiona. Over 800,000 clients nonetheless haven’t got electrical energy practically every week after the storm, in keeping with utility firms’ stories tracked by PowerOutage.
The function of plantains
Plantains function an necessary starch to many Latino communities. They’re cherished for his or her versatility in cooking and are a necessary ingredient to dishes like mofongo and pasteles.
Puerto Rico’s agricultural business was already devastated by Hurricane Maria in 2017. Roughly 80 p.c of the island’s crop worth was misplaced. Equally, plantain and banana crops have been among the many hardest hit.
Ecuador, Guatemala and the Philippines are among the many world’s largest exporters of plantains. Nonetheless, the crop continues to be Puerto Rico’s third largest commodity, bringing over $42 million in gross sales to the island in 2018.
