Heavy rainfall blamed for crop shortages

Some stakeholders in the agriculture sector are reporting a shortage of lettuce and tomatoes.

And they are blaming heavy rainfall for the scarcity.

Chief executive officer of the Barbados Agricultural Society (BAS) James Paul and president of the Barbados Association of Retailers, Vendors and Entrepreneurs (BARVEN) Alister Alexander told Barbados TODAY that farmers were experiencing challenges during the wet season as the rain was destroying their crops and saturating their fields.

“Yes they are scarce and it is because of the climatic conditions,” said Alexander. “At this time of year you will have scarcity of most crops, it is a norm and it is not a sign that farmers are not planting as some people may think. In Barbados we experience scarcity and glut and they are associated with the seasons.

“In the dry season we get glut and in the wet season we get scarcity. How do we solve this problem? BARVEN has put forward a suggestion to Government that we look at a planned planting regime for the nation to prevent everybody planting the same thing at the same time. We suggested that more farmers needed greenhouses, which would allow them to plant crops during the wet season that wouldn’t be damaged by the rain . . .”

Paul said the current shortage was nothing to be alarmed about, noting that farmers would restart planting tomatoes and lettuce in abundance as soon as the rain eases.

“Since the rains have come in it knocks the blossoms off of the plants and causes some crops to spoil. But we should be getting back supplies of lettuce and tomatoes in a few weeks as farmers are putting them back in the fields, so it is not a big issue at this time,” he said.

Barbados TODAY understands that the shortage has been affecting one of the island’s major fast food entities. Though a spokesman for the company declined to comment, that business placed signage at its Warren’s branch indicating that meals, which usually come with tomatoes and lettuce had been impacted.

Meanwhile, president of the Spring Hall Farmers’ Association Hamilton Corbin also confirmed that tomatoes and lettuce were scarce.

Corbin, who operates on the largest land lease programme on the island at Spring Hall, St Lucy, said he did not have any in the ground and he was aware that a number of farmers did not have any planted either.

“They are scarce because of the climatic conditions and the fact that some farmers have limited available resources,” he said. “A lot of farmers are not in the position to jump up and prepare their fields as they used to because of the risk factors.

“A farmer will put most of his energy into things that are more manageable at this time. For instance root crops such as pumpkins that are resilient and okras because they are easy to plant.

“But when it comes to more perishable things like tomatoes, sweet peppers and lettuce they may be hesitant to plant because the cost of seeds and fertiliser have gone up and these things need optimal levels of care. And when the rain is in they need to use more things like fungicide so farmers may not want to take the risk to plant and then lose their crops.”

However, Corbin said this was a great opportunity for farmers to consider setting up water harvesting systems to catch water so that in times of drought, they would have a backup system.

Vendors who ply their trade at Cheapside in the City also reported that they had challenges sourcing the commodities.

Keren Watson said she had to buy a 60-pound box of imported tomatoes and though they were small, customers were “grabbing them up fast, fast”.  She said she purchased the box on Saturday and she only had eight pounds remaining today.

Despite the shortage, she said she sold the product at $5 per pound instead of raising the price to $8, which is the current selling price.

Angela Greene said she also could not source any local tomatoes and noted that other crops such as beans, sweet peppers and parsley were in limited supply. The scarcity of parsley has led to a doubling of the price from $5/$6 per pound to $15 per pound, she pointed out.

She said sweet peppers were now as much as $7 per pound and beans were going at $8 per pound. (SZB)