By Chowning Johnson
University of Georgia
University of Georgia scientist Ed Kanemasu spent Oct. 14-15 in
Grenada with former President Jimmy Carter. They weren’t on
vacation. They and others in their group were on a mission.
Hurricane Ivan slammed Grenada Sept. 7 with the full force of its
130 mph winds, killing 39 people. The island, 12 miles wide and
21 miles long, was devastated. About 10 percent of its homes were
destroyed, Kanemasu said, and another 80 percent were damaged.
More than 90 percent of its forest and agriculture were stripped.
U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell visited Grenada after the
hurricane to offer U.S. economic aid. He then contacted Carter
and suggested he visit Grenada to offer its citizens
encouragement and hope during their recovery.
“You got the feeling from talking to the people that the
psychological trauma was nearly as great as the physical toll,”
Kanemasu said.
Mission team
Carter assembled a team of specialists to accompany him to
Grenada and help survey the damage. Among those he recruited was
Kanemasu, renowned for his expertise in international agriculture.
The director of international agriculture and assistant dean in
the UGA College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences,
Kanemasu didn’t know Carter before the trip. He didn’t know he
would be visiting Grenada, either, until three days before he
left on the mission.
Other experts from Emory University, Georgia Tech, James Lee Witt
and Associates and the Carter Center joined the group.
Carter, Kanemasu and Grenada Minister of Agriculture Gregory
Bowen assessed the damage to the island’s crops. During their
investigation they were unable to find any live nutmeg trees.
‘Mind-boggling’ damage
“The damage to the tropical, green, ‘Spice Island of the
Caribbean’ was mind-boggling,” Kanemasu said. “What was once a
lush forest is now a denuded bunch of tree trunks.”
Grenada, a relatively poor country, depends greatly on its
agriculture, and nutmeg and other tropical tree crops have been
the mainstay of farming there. The island is the No. 2 producer
of nutmeg in the world.
Carter also met with Habitat for Humanity aides, who are already
building new homes on the island.
“It was a very quick trip,” Kanemasu said. “But we’re making some
recommendations that we feel must be done before they can begin
to receive donations from other countries, including the United
States.”
Top need
Topping that list is establishing a single person or office that
will be responsible for the reconstruction effort and
administering relief funds.
“Right now when you ask who’s in charge, they mention different
people,” Kanemasu said. “If they don’t designate someone to
oversee the project, people won’t donate funds. It will help
things move more smoothly.”
Kanemasu said he hopes UGA will play a role in the reconstruction
of the island’s agriculture.
(Chowning Johnson is a student writer with the University of
Georgia College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences.)
