This 20 acre carrot field, farmed by 27 year old Ruben Perez, has been ready to harvest since the first week of December. But Perez is faced with the dilemma of losing his investment due to difficulties in finding a buyer for his product. He's been farming for the past 10 years, and now he's faced with the decision of continuing to farm carrots or pull out and invest in another crop altogether.

Ruben Perez, Farmer, San Carlos
The problem we have right now with the carrots is that we can't sell it we have a problem with selling carrots we don't have buyers and we have been ready from the first week of December. And the problem is that we call the buyers that import the Mexican carrots and now when we called them some of them say that they can't sell too much they just can buy a little bit and they are big importers of Mexican products and now that we have the local carrots product now they don't want a lot and I don't understand why. And when I asked them what is the problem what is the reason they cant buy a lot some of them say there are still Mexican carrots but they say that the minister says from the first week of December they stopped giving license for carrots but the problem is the contraband that is something that cant stop and maybe it is just not the contraband person, doing the contraband of carrots but I think that the carrots that are on the markets some of them come from Guatemala too because I believe they can take it from here to Belmopan and Cayo because we have a lot of check points in the road so we have to see and have to protect our goods like how they do on the Mexican side and Guatemalan side too.

Perez and many other farmers here in San Carlos are competing against the contraband produce that saturates the market. He says that getting the importers to buy local instead of bringing in Mexican carrots is the only solution to this problem.

Santiago Coc, Farmer
Ahora quiere vender. Now we want to sell and no one wants to buy. And very cheap as well. I don't know why and the Mexican up to 100 sacks they buy and us no we don't know why. Yo no sé por qué así.

Ruben Perez, Farmer, San Carlos
"Right now if they don't help us to fix this problem or help us to have better sales we will lose our product of carrots and still we will lose our money we have invested because I have already invested like 15k in carrots and I have 2 acres and a half and I will lose like maybe I am getting 500 pounds for each row and I have 100 rows, that will mean 15k pounds that's what I will lose and so that's why I am here talking for our farmers because we have farmers that they are affected by this problem but they are afraid to talk but we should not be afraid because this is good for we."

"And I got family. I got two children, one in school and one who is growing and I need the money because that's why I work and that's why I am here."

And aside from competing with the contraband produce, Perez says other factors like the weather also impact the quality of their produce and their harvesting time. And unfortunately, a cold storage system isn't an efficient solution to the problem either.

Ruben Perez, Farmer, San Carlos
"Cold storage is not a solution for the carrots because the carrots is a product that can't take long in a cold storage because it gets spoiled and that's the reason that we have to do this and ask for help because we can't storage the carrots."

"Yes, the climate change have an impact too because if we don't sell the carrots right now we have a lot of rain right now because the carrots are ready and when the carrots are ready it doesn't need a lot of water and now it will start to spoil the carrots and it will not be good anymore right now we've been having a lot of rain and if the rain continues all the carrots that are ready from one month ago we will lose it."

And other expenses like fertilizers, diesel, and maintenance of equipment incur an even bigger investment when farming multiple crops.

Cornelio Schmidt, Farmer, Indian Creek
"The farmers have it a little hard because the price of their harvest is low and the things they are using like diesel and fertilizer, equipment, all these prices are higher and right now the Sorgam is very low but we are spending this I don't think we will make money because the price is too low and the same is with the corn before they come here. It was $36 a sac for 100 pounds and right now they don't want to give me $25 because people want to sell cheaper and cheaper and it gets hard to do farming we try to find something easier than that because I don't know what else we have to do."

After seeing the current struggles being faced by his colleagues and their carrots, for farmers like Armando Hernandez, only weeks away from harvesting his potatoes in the fields, he hopes that the Ministry of Agriculture will address this issue in time, and either stop giving licenses to importers, or redirect them to purchasing local potatoes instead of bringing in the white ones from Mexico.

Armando Hernández, Farmer
"Well right now I want to send a message to the government. That the potatoes here in the fields many farmers have potatoes to harvest at the end of the month heading into February and I want the government to close the license early so that we don't have the same problem happening to us right now with the carrots so the potatoes don't accumulate and then it becomes cheap to sell."

The contraband affects me cause I cannot sell my product when there is contraband we cannot compete with the white because all the market is full with white potatoes which is why we want to say to please to the government and minister Jose Mai to stop the contraband and close the licenses when the product is ready.

The UDP Standard Bearer for Orange Walk South says that he's the one who's been dealing with the concerns of the farmers here in San Carlos directly, but the reality is that GOB are the only ones who can assist them in selling their produce.

German Tillett, UDP Standard Bearer, Orange Walk South
"So what they need and what they want from the government is a little bit of help so that they can be able to sell their crop but that is not happening here in San Carlos. Whenever these things come we need to see that the agricultural section here in Orange Walk South is one of the main things that help our Belizean people because if we go to the market many things are expensive, cilantro, everything is expensive and those are the few people giving us those things and we are not helping them so they can be able to give us those things."