Vendors facing pricing challenge as farm costs escalate

Vendors at the Coronation Market say they began seeing the impact of the drought on agricultural production months ago as farmers lost crops and saw stunted growth in some that produced yields.

Herma Thomas said that she has been refusing to buy certain crops because the level of profit one would make in the downtown area is no longer worth the load.

Last Thursday, when farmers and middlemen rolled into the market with supplies, the price of cabbage was so high that it was not worth stocking any at her stall to sell at the market price of $250 per lb last weekend.

“Di drought affect everybody. A nuh me alone. Everybody it affect! Mi fi spend $22,000 fi mek $3,000 on cabbage? So mi never buy it, and mi nah buy none next weekend. Mi nuh buy it, but mi know somebody else will buy it. And that is another problem because the demand from the other buyer will cause the price to remain high,” said Thomas.

“People who sell uptown will buy it because dem have dem market with uptown people who ‘fraid fi come a town ... so dem will pay $300 or more [per lb],” Thomas said.

She also said that although cucumber prices fell last week, she was only able to make a profit of $10 per lb on Monday.

Thomas noted that she cannot blame the farmers and the middlemen for the constant increase in prices, given that they have to buy water at a higher cost for irrigation as a result of the drought.

“The only thing that can ease we down now, [a] little rainfall. That is it!” she said.

Another vendor, Suzie, agreed that rainfall would be Jamaica’s only saving grace.

“No rain nah fall, so everything dear. The cheapest something right now a tomato! A drought, so weh wi fi do? Everything dear! ... We can’t manage it, but what are we to do? What we going to do?,” Suzie told The Gleaner.

She said that the high prices in recent months have been triggered by the drought.

“If you want a pound of white yam, you have fi pay $200 fi it,” she said.

“Thyme dearer than scallion! Carrot nuh so bad, because we can get little $50 carrot. Everything dear! Rice and flour soon gone sky high, too!” she shouted.

Suzie said that only God could help the situation.

Lloyd Clarke, another market vendor who sells from his handcart on the streets of downtown Kingston, told The Gleaner that the cheapest item for sale was tomatoes, which he is expecting to cost more soon.

“Tomato a di cheapest thing! Sweet pepper up de! ... Sweet potato a $300 per pound, string bean $500 a pound and $400 wholesale [price],” Clarke said, noting that sweet peppers, cabbage, yam, Irish potato, lettuce, pak choi and other produce had also seen significant increases.

Clarke said his profits has had his profits slashed by roughly $100,000 due to the low margins caused by the drought.

Junior King, a handcart operator, said he and his colleagues have also been impacted as shoppers are now left with less money to afford their services.

“People wah pay us $100 fi push from in a did market to out a dem car or di bus stop. We charge dem a little $200, which shoulda even be more, and dem wah pay wi $100 instead,” King told The Gleaner. “Wa wi suppose to feed wi family wid? How many trips mi can do with $100 each move?

ainsworth.morris@gleanerjm.com