Monday July 18th 2005, St. George's: Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Agriculture Hon. Gregory Bowen has been touring some of the farms that have been heavily damaged as a result of the passage of Hurricane Emily. Minister Bowen and other officials from the Ministry of Agriculture, toured several farms in St. Andrews including River Antoine Estate, where preliminary reports indicate that 90% of the bananas planted after Hurricane Ivan have been destroyed. Many of these bananas were already being harvested for the local market and have been lost as a result of Hurricane Emily. Minister Bowen on seeing the level of devastation was deeply sadden by the loss and reiterated Government's commitment to the continued resuscitation of the industry. Minister Bowen said, "In September 2004 after we had Hurricane Ivan, we implemented our emergency programme to resuscitate the agricultural sector. Just when we are realizing the results of all the hard work put in by the farmers, farm workers and the Ministry, 10 months later, we face another major set back, this time from Hurricane Emily. We can see here that 90% of the banana crop at River Antoine estate is lost. Most of these banana plants were carrying bunches." Minister Bowen noted that Grenada was just at the point where there was no need to import bananas anymore. However, he noted that Hurricane Emily came along and wiped out any hope of being self sufficient.