When reviewing the endless parade of public figures that pass before our cameras, we're always looking for acrobats - those who can effortless flip their position an entire 180 degrees.
And we may have found one more in Jose Mai.
He's been on both sides of history, and 9 years ago he saw for himself how dire the carrot situation was in San Carlos, Orange Walk. Now that he is minister of Agriculture, Jose Mai has been placed in a position to offer a solution to the farmers of San Carlos but according to him it's not as easy as that. We take a look at Mai then and now.
When we went to San Carlos in 2016 there were piles of rotting carrots taking up space in the fields, up to 10 acres to be exact. That story aired on January 8th 2016
And now on January 9th 2025, the farmers find themselves on the brink of repeating history.
Leading the charge for the farmers this time is UDP standard bearer for Orange Walk South, German Tillet, but in 2016 it was Jose Mai the then PUP opposition area representative.
Hon. Jose Mai - OW South Representative
"It's right there they can do it with a stroke of a pen. Jules it's only how much thousand pounds of carrots, it's so little, only 6 acres. It's only 15 thousand pounds per acre, that's little carrots. All they can do is hold up the permits, but the permits in advance. They give it today but it expires in 15 days' time. if they know that the carrots is going to be harvested in 2 weeks time, then just cut down the amount of days that they give on the permit. It's just a matter of them doing it. The will that's all."
He said GOB was easily within its powers to address the farmers' problems and could do it with a stroke of a pen. But now that the pen is in his hand Mai says playing politics with carrots is politically immature:
Jose Mai, Minister of Agriculture
"Let me say there's one or two farmers in San Carlos who are upset. Carrots is a highly perishable vegetable. It spoils in your refrigerator, right? It has no shelf life. You cannot expect the public to consume all your carrots in one day."
"The farmers know this very well. But if there is one farmer or one politician who chooses carrots to make a political statement, he is mistaken. That is primary school politics coming from a very weak political mind."
"We are moving our agriculture sector to a more industrialized type agriculture."
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