Jamaica's marijuana shortage branded a 'cultural embarrassment'

 Hurricanes, drought and the COVID-19 pandemic have all taken their toll on farmers and their crops.

Many farmers could not tend to their crops during the coronavirus curfew

Bad weather and a drop in the number of farmers has led to a marijuana shortage in Jamaica.

Marijuana fields were pummelled by heavy rain during last year's hurricane season, before being scorched in the drought that followed, leading to tens of thousands of dollars in losses.

"It destroyed everything," said Daneyel Bozra, who grows marijuana in the southwest of Jamaica.

Strict COVID-19 measures made the situation worse, especially a 6pm curfew that meant farmers could not tend to their fields at night as is routine.

A lack of roads forces farmers to walk to their fields and then to get water from wells and springs. Many were unable to do those chores at night due to the curfew.

"It's a cultural embarrassment," said Triston Thompson from Tacaya, a consulting and brokerage firm for the country's nascent legal cannabis industry.

He added: "Last year was the worst year. We've never had this amount of loss. It's something so laughable that cannabis is short in Jamaica."

Read more: https://news.sky.com/story/jamaicas-marijuana-shortage-branded-a-cultural-embarrassment-12209752