The country was hit by tropical storm “Isidore” on 12 September, leaving behind considerable damage to houses and infrastructure in various parishes. An assessment of damage has not been made available yet. By contrast, the agricultural sector has been slowly recovering from the damage incurred by the heavy rains and flooding in late May and early June. Financial assistance has been provided by national and international lending institutions. Apart from the damage to minor food crops, poultry, livestock and other animal farms, heavy losses were also inflicted to the important banana and sugar cane crops. Sugar cane plantations in the large producing parishes of Clarendon and St. Catherine were particularly affected. Total sugar production for the year dropped to 175 000 tonnes from an earlier target of 212 000 tonnes. The foreign exchange earner coffee had been harvested by the time of the storm and damage incurred was basically to coffee plants.