Email

Print

Courtney Menzies was at that meeting today and has this story.

Onion farmers in the Corozal, Cayo, and Belize Districts watched in horror as carrots in San Carlos rotted in the fields because of the bumper crop.

They faced the same issue last year around this time and they're hoping to get ahead of the problem. So they brought their concerns to a meeting held by the Ministry of Agriculture.

Orlando Eck, Chairperson, Concepcion Vegetable Farmers Cooperative
"The big concern is that, you see the news, and we face it too, about the carrots. Carrots have been difficult for us, when we started, the importation was closed last week of November but the impact of the contraband, all the people will say it's legal contraband."

"In the months of December, for the carrots, the big importers didn't buy, the only one that was buying from us in Concepcion was Joshua, a lady from Belmopan. They were the only ones that were buying for us and in San Carlos they had difficulties. And we don't want to face that. That's why we are here in this onion meeting so we don't have to have difficulties when we are just starting."

"The prices of onion was $3, we are just starting and the price is dropping. We need to make profit, as you can see the projection that Mr Rogers is doing, people are losing, and big losses. So we don't want to face that."

The farmers from five cooperatives wrote a letter to the Ministry pleading with them to cease the importation of all onions early and to monitor contraband closely. They're assuring the government that even without the importation of white and purple onions, their yellow ones can sustain the demand.

Orlando Eck, Chairperson, Concepcion Vegetable Farmers Cooperative
"We have onions, enough yellow onions but we might see that we don't have the purple and the white ones to supply all the country but like the minister said before in news, in two weeks people will not have yellow or white onion, he mentioned at that time carrots, but now I am mentioning white onion and purple onion. People will not die. But we will have the yellow ones. So that we could supply the country."

"Right now we are discussing that there is still importation in the country so if they stop importation now, we might have a good transition but if they import white and purple, that will mess with the price of the yellow one."

But according to the ministry, they've already ceased importation and they're working to ensure the local produce gets sold.

Andrew Mejia, Director of Extension Services, Ministry of Agriculture
"The onion production is coming literally like now and the farmers want to ensure that they will be able to sell their products. They have worked hard in the field, they have toiled the soil and it's only fair that they be given the opportunity to sell their products so we're here this morning to present the figures to them, for them to see which district is producing and what they're producing and what will be the total production. Now from that, the farmers will be able to ask questions, as they have a right to do, they ask us the tough questions and we're here to answer them as best as we could. There are certain production practices that also we would like to ask them, about their management practices in the field to ensure that the data they're giving us is the data we're presenting on the ministry level to ensure that when we stop importation we actually have the products to supply the local market."

"Currently we have closed the importation of onion, there is no more importation of onion for a week, giving the farmers ample time to be able to harvest and sell their produce."

But it's not just onions - the farmers are saying that they have been seeing contraband lettuce and carrots in the markets.

Meanwhile farmers like this one from Cayo are unable to sell their produce and have to return home with most of their sacks.

Mejia concedes that the issue it a reoccurring one that happens during the transitional period.

Andrew Mejia, Director of Extension Services, Ministry of Agriculture
"It's always the transition period, when they close importation to when the bulk of the production comes in. There is always an issue within that period and it's about a 2 weeks window that we're trying to close that gap, but being the calendarized is new, we're doing what we call our check and balances and this is where a meeting like this comes in and we hear from the farmers what went wrong, what's going right, and we make adjustments again. It won't solve itself right away because it's been a roll over issue but we're hoping that with the new systems we have in play, we'll be able to close the gap, we'll be able to assure the farmers that we are working for them."

And Eck explained that their local produce goes for much cheaper than the imported ones:

Orlando Eck, Chairperson, Concepcion Vegetable Farmers Cooperative
"The white onions right now is at $260, if i'm not mistaken the 65 pound, it's $260 wholesale at Belize. So if we divide that it's how much for a pound? That is wholesale price, in a retail price you will get it $325, even they are trying to get $350 and that's really expensive. And it's the same thing with carrots. When BMDC imported it the price went from $120 to $135 at the market. And we are selling the carrots for $45 and $50 at the market. So if we sell wholesale, we should sell like $35 or even $30 so that the intermediate buyers could make a profit. So we hopefully could get a good price because yesterday the price dropped in Belize City, the price of the yellow onion dropped because of the "maaga" season that we have right now."

"The support from the government, we will say please, if there is, like everybody says, this is legal contraband, or even the other guys say, this is a cartel of vegetables, even that they say now and that is what we want. Please, if there is any investigation, we need the presence of BAHA, we need the presence of Customs, because if they are not going their correct job, we have a voice for you guys."

The Ministry is projecting onion production to be a little over 2 million pounds this year, which should sustain the country for the next 6 months.

The Ministry has commenced digitizing the date they collect and putting it into an app for the farmers.