Overripe tomatoes are rotting away on farms throughout sections of St Elizabeth, symbolising the crushing monetary losses farmers are dealing with. Fighting an oversupply of crops, farmers are being pressured to promote their tomatoes for a mere $15 per pound, but a dire scarcity of patrons leaves them with no alternative however to look at their funding wilt away.
“It is extremely discouraging. I solely do it as a result of I present employment for a number of guys, and I can get again some cash to purchase some seeds. However there is no such thing as a revenue in it at this pricing proper now,” Junior Dyer advised THE WEEKEND STAR throughout a go to to his Flagaman-based farm on Wednesday.
Dyer added that, though the bigger “desk salads” are presently going for $60 a pound, he has obtained affords of $20 per pound for his smaller tomatoes. He defined that, as a result of he has spent tons of of 1000’s of {dollars} on his farm, these value tags have been devastating.
“I’ve two guys working for me and so they get between $4,000 and $5,000 per day. A pack of the seeds is for $15,000, and also you get roughly 1,100 seedlings. However, after germination, you may get 1,000. I exploit Actara insecticide to moist the soil, and a pack of the small sachet is for $800,” stated Dyer.
Along with that, the farmer stated that he purchases and vans irrigation water from the neighbouring farming neighborhood of Beacon. Nevertheless, Dyer is hopeful that his subsequent batch of produce will appeal to a better price ticket.
“The one factor that retains me above floor is my candy pepper. I do not ever lose with candy pepper,” he stated.
Gerald Davis, one other Flagaman farmer, stated he has misplaced roughly 90 per cent of his small tomato farm due to an absence of patrons. Nevertheless, not like Dyer who vans his water, Davis stated that the trucking of irrigation water is on his lengthy checklist of bills.
“Mi purchase three vans of water for this farm and every load value $12,000. Then mi affi flip spherical and pay every man $2,000 to carry the hose and I normally use six males,” stated Davis.
Nevertheless, the farmer admitted that the present lack of patrons and the low value for produce occurs each time there’s a glut.
“I’ve by no means had an excellent crop of tomatoes and get it bought – all the pieces all the time simply fades away as a result of we do not have the client. These ought to have been bought a very long time in the past, however dem keep on the bush and decay,” Davis stated throughout a tour of his tomato farm.
In the meantime, in Beacon, Javid Powell advised THE WEEKEND STAR that he believes the native farming sector would drastically profit from modular chilly storage amenities. Powell bemoaned the truth that he has misplaced extra tomatoes than he was capable of promote because the begin of the yr.
“This isn’t my first time planting tomatoes, however the first time I am shedding a lot. I attempt to get patrons however, the extra you name dem, they let you know that dem not shopping for any. Some patrons come and purchase likkle.”
“I believe there’s simply an excessive amount of available on the market. I believe they need to have a manufacturing facility or one thing to retailer produce. If we had that, a lot of our tomatoes would not spoil,” Powell stated.
The agriculture ministry, final yr, introduced plans to reintroduce chilly storage amenities to the native farming sector. A $100-million deal has been signed to assemble a state-of-the-art chilly storage facility in Kirkvine, Manchester. The ministry additionally plans to construct 30 solar-powered modular amenities nationwide within the following 5 years, starting with 4 in 2025. Plans are additionally being made to renovate the Coleyville chilly storage facility, additionally in Manchester.
Nevertheless, Beacon farmer Ryan Powell opposes chilly storage, saying it won’t profit tomato growers.
“It’ll be exhausting to make use of chilly storage for tomatoes. It could use fi mek a complete heap of issues as a result of you’ve tomatoes in cans, tomato ketchup and different meals gadgets. Massive corporations ought to spend money on small farmers fi mek dem ketchup and cease shopping for the overseas one dem and put your labels dem pon it. Each nation a strive fi push dem personal items, so we should always do it too,” he appealed.
