‘Not us’: Vendors reject blame for farm thefts

The vending community has pushed back against suggestions that vendors are fuelling a wave of crop thefts, insisting they are being unfairly scapegoated for large-scale crop theft that is more likely linked to organised operations supplying major retail and wholesale outlets.

Some vendors interviewed by Barbados TODAY confirmed being approached by would-be sellers offering produce at suspiciously cut-rate prices. But they said they rejected buying without receipts.

President of the Barbados Association of Retailers, Vendors, and Entrepreneurs (BARVEN), Alister Alexander, stated that while the organisation could not speak for every individual vendor, it rejected attempts to portray the vending community as complicit, maintaining that the vast majority of vendors sourced their produce through legal means.

“BARVEN cannot swear for every vendor. Who can for everyone in their sector? Yet we have stated over and over we are confident that the vast majority of the vending community obtain their produce by legal means,” Alexander said. “We think that those who have suffered these unconscionable losses can generally back up what I am saying. They are greatly patronised by the vending community. I believe this is organised crime looking to offload ill-gotten gains in bulk… ”

Alexander was speaking against the backdrop of the theft of an estimated 30 000 pounds of yams over the Christmas period and early New Year. Of that total, 10 000 pounds were stolen from Barbados Agricultural Development and Marketing Corporation-managed farmland, while a further 20 000 pounds were taken from private land in St John owned by Richard Armstrong, one of the island’s largest root crop producers.

He said BARVEN continued to urge vigilance within the community and stronger regulation of vending activity: “However, BARVEN encourages its members to report every suspicious transaction they might observe. Be your brother-farmer’s keeper. We view praedial larceny as a crime against the whole country that we all have a duty to stamp out.”

He added that while the association had long defended wayside vending, the National Vending Bill needed to be proclaimed. “A thief should not be able to steal produce and then just set up maybe somewhere on the highway and sell. This bill must become fully functional in short order. It would not only bring about greater organisation and development in the sector, but fuller responsibility and order.”

Vendors at Cheapside Market rejected claims that they knowingly traded in stolen produce when Barbados TODAY visited the City market on Tuesday. They insisted they took active steps to verify their suppliers.

Long-time vendor Nadine Prince said receipts and traceability were critical to protecting both vendors and farmers. 

“We get receipts like even the load coming from St Vincent, we get receipts from the people them who we buy from, and the Bajan people them who we buy stuff from, they give us receipts,” she said. “And if not, they can vouch, too, because we tell them the police come around and say anybody we buying anything from, we’re supposed to have a receipt.”

Long-time vendor Nadine Prince said she could produce receipts for all the vegetables on her trays. (SB)

Prince recalled previous police operations at the market last year and said those experiences had reinforced the need for caution.

“Even if the people come and selling stuff, we ask them: ‘Do you have receipt?’ and can’t produce no receipt, we ain’t want it,” she said. “Anything I buy, I can get my receipt. I buy from a plantation, I buy from a farm. And that they can vouch for me and say, ‘Yes, everything me buy from she’.”

She added that unusually low prices were an immediate warning sign, noting that yams currently retailed at about $6.50 to $7 per pound. “I can vouch for myself,” Prince said. “Because I understand how hard people have to work for them labour. And when I growing up, my mother always say: ‘Honesty is the best policy’.”

Vendor of 12 years, Shelly-Ann Brewster, acknowledged that informal transactions with small farmers sometimes occurred without receipts but said she supported stricter documentation to protect vendors.

“When we go places like Scotty’s and supermarkets, we will get receipt,” she said. “But these small farmers that will come down with food to us to the market, they don’t give us no receipt, so… I’m now learning whenever I go to the small farmer to purchase they have to give me a receipt, I’m going to demand a receipt.”

Shelly-Ann Brewster said some small farmers did not give receipts (SB)

Brewster said she regularly turned away offers that appeared suspicious.

“Even this morning a guy came here with a vehicle… he say I have some bananas to sell. I said, ‘Oh no, I don’t want,’” she said. “Even Sunday, I was working at Eagle Hall, and a guy came up with a truck offering me some food to sell. I tell him I don’t want because he was offering me far cheaper than the price. So I know something is not right.”

Vendor-farmer Maxine, whose ground is located at Lears, St Michael, said the theft of crops struck deeply at those who laboured to produce them.

“I buy nothing that stolen.” She added that she relied primarily on her own production and avoided buying from unknown sellers. “Nobody can’t walk around and bring nothing for me. I ain’t buying nothing. I know where to get my food from.”