Farmer forced to sell produce at cents per pound

With more than 30 000 pounds of produce on her hands and no market for it, a St Philip farmer is ready to sell it off at mere cents per pound in a desperate attempt to get rid of it before it spoils.

Tanisha Satrohan, a small farmer at River Plantation, told Barbados TODAY on Thursday she decided to price her fruits and vegetables way below market value as she did not want to end up having to dump them.

Satrohan said she had several pounds of sweet pepper and cucumber as well as 15 000 pounds of pumpkin, 7 000 pounds of cantaloupe, and 8 000 pounds of butternut squash.

“I am afraid that with all of this produce, more than half will spoil or I will have to throw them away,” she said.

“I have no contracts with supermarkets. People like to beat down your prices when you done spend all your money on inputs. So now I have to sell the produce at whatever price I can get.”

The farmer said she was willing to sell her fruits and vegetables for less than a dollar per pound at her storage facility near her eight-acre plot of land.

Satrohan lamented that the lack of a market, as well as human and animal crop thieves were among the challenges she and other farmers faced.

“I have bills to pay, children to support, and the thieves – the two-legged ones and the four legged rats – killing you. There is no survival. Farmers getting nothing,” she lamented.

“The Minister of Agriculture said farmers are making money but we are not making money. We do not have a market to sell our food. Government is allowing food to be imported when local food can’t sell and you telling farmers to increase production.”

Based on the last periodical price list published by the Barbados Agricultural Development and Marketing Corporation which was applicable up to August 9, the average price for sweet pepper was $3.94 per pound. The average price for cucumber was 80 cents per pound while the average cost of butternut squash per pound was $1.30. Garden pumpkin was sold at an average price of $1.57 while belly pumpkin went at $1.35 per pound. Cantaloupe cost around $1.56 per pound.

sheriabrathwaite@barbadostoday.bb