After the storm: Yucatan struggles to regroup following hurricane damage. (Spotlight).

Hurricane Isidore has long since dissipated, but in its wake is a gutted agricultural industry and devastated economy that will take months to rebuild, local officials and business leaders say. "Hurricane Isidore has set back a lot of projects," said Nestor Navarro, president of The Navarro Group, a consulting firm for Mexican and foreign companies.

Exemplary among the wounded is Juguera Akil S.A. de C.V., based in Akil, Yucatan, which makes orange juice concentrate. "They just got back on track, exporting to Germany ... They just received a contract last month, and were going to double their production," Navarro said.

Now, instead of doubling production, the company is rebuilding. Isidore swept through on September 21 and 22, skirting Yucatan's northern coast, turning inland just north of Merida and then stalling over the interior of the state. When the storm had finished its 10-hour stay, the agriculture industry was destroyed, thousands of utility poles and hundreds of miles of cables were strewn about, and 300,000 people in Yucatan alone were homeless.

ASSESSING THE DAMAGE

Damage to the agricultural sector alone in Campeche and Yucatan topped US$600 million dollars, according to the federal Agriculture Secretariat, making it the hardest hit sector. Nearly $5 billion pesos were lost in poultry, eggs, honey, pork, lamb and cow production; $380 million pesos were lost in citrus, tropical fruit, henequen and other crops, according to Roger Gonzalez Herrera, Yucatan state secretary of rural development and fishing.

Just over 8 million chickens died, 41% of the state's 2001 inventory. Seven thousand of Yucatan's 10,000 ranches were damaged, and 50% of the hives were lost, devastating the honey industry. The rest of the bees are being fed sugar until flowers grow back. In the fishing sector, $553 million pesos worth of production were lost. About 1,800 small boats were damaged, as well as 59 ships registered as 10 tons or more, Gonzalez said.

President Vicente Fox has pledged more than US$400 million in federal aid. But everyone agrees the economy needs major resuscitation. "We will be starting from scratch," said Raul Monforte, a papaya grower who also does consulting for a group of 40 independent papaya maradol producers. He added the group lost 150 hectares of trees, $10 million pesos worth of damage.

Yucatan's maquiladora industry suffered the same fate. For up to 10 days after the storm, many of the region's 115 maquiladoras didn't have electricity and couldn't operate, said Roman Zabaleta, executive director of Merida's Maquiladora Association. Maquiladoras represent 15% of the state's jobs, employing 33,000 people, and account for 40% of all the manufacturing posts, Zabaleta said. About 500 of those jobs may have been lost because of the storm. Shipping between Progreso and other ports was at a near standstill for days as the navigation channel to the dock was checked, Port Director Jose Huerta said, causing a ripple effect on other businesses in the area.

ON THE BACK BURNER

Before the hurricane, the region had been working to bring in new industries. But many plans are on hold as investors watch how Yucatan handles Isidore's aftermath. "Some people have already told me that from the United States, they will be waiting to see how soon the area recuperates from this disaster," said Navarro.

Yucatan is clinging to one hope for recuperation: tourism, one of the state's major industries--and perhaps the least damaged. But some parts of the economy, especially the agriculture sector, may take between 10 and 20 months to recover.

"(What's most important) is how they show the world that they deal with the situation," Gonzalez said of state and federal officials. "I don't have any doubt that the state of Yucatan will get back on its feet."

Theresa Braine is a Merida-based freelance journalist.