And in other news, last week we brought you the carrot conundrum where the Michael Finnegan Market was low on carrots and the vendors complained that the ones they did have were subpar and overpriced. The vendors blamed this on the fact that only local produce was available since the government wasn't issuing licenses to import the vegetable.
And, later, the head extension officer at the ministry said that the local farmers need the support, and gave a few explanations as to why the carrots were unsavory.
But today the ministry took the media out to the farms, where we got to see the harvesting for ourselves and learnt about a new project the farmers are undertaking.
Courtney Menzies headed north to San Carlos, Orange Walk today and has this story.
The carrot conundrum began last week when market vendors complained of low-quality carrots being sold at higher prices. But the Ministry of Agriculture stood by the local produce, saying they're here to stay. And while you may be worrying about using those mushy carrots for your coleslaw on Sunday, the San Carlos farmers who produce say don't blame the crop, blame the middlemen.
Maximillian Hernandez, Charmain, San Carlos/Farmer
"The small farmers here in San Carlos try to do their best. When we put the order from buyers for the middle man, they come and see the carrots, they say it's good."
"Why when you go to the market you have complaint? Maybe the storage, the management, the road, they put it in the truck bad, everything, that's why the farmer doesn't solve all problem. We have a big chain, producer, buyers, distributor."
And the Ministry's district coordinator for Orange Walk explained another reason: that those mushy carrots may not have gone through the proper harvesting protocols.
Barry Palacio, District Coordinator, Orange Walk
"That incident that happened a week or two ago, that process did not happen, people were trying to make a quick buck and they failed to practice these safe practices and that in itself contributes to that age old perception that the local produce is not good and we are seeing from our farmers that they are trying their upmost to present and market a fairly decent product. So that incident certainly gave the local produce a black eye."
And Palacio added that the middlemen may also be responsible for the price gouging. They take advantage of the high demand of carrots since during that time of transition from imported to local, the vegetable got scarce.
And it's the vendors who, last week, had to tell consumers that there were no carrots in the market.
But last week's scarcity could also be attributed to a new experiment - growing carrots outside the normal season, which led the farmers to run into some problems.
Maximillian Hernandez, Charmain, San Carlos/Farmer
"We start early this year, we begin plant on 14th July, it's an experiment for us, never in Belize try to plant carrots in July. We plant in September to harvest in December, for Christmas season, everybody has good carrots for the Christmas. That's why we try to come together to make sure what happened this year don't happen next year."
"We try to do thebedt to mak mooney to survive. That idea didn't come from the Ministry of Agriculture to plant early, no we tried our own idea. We have problem because in the hot, hot weather, what time right now, maybe 11 or 12 you see the weather not too hot. In July and August, it's hot, hot, especially for this vegetable, they don't want hot, hot weather."
But the ministry is working on that and today the CEO Servulo Baeza said they will be providing covered structures because it's imperative that the farmers continue to experiment with different varieties:
Sevulo Baeza, CEO, Ministry of Agriculture
"It's the first time we are harvesting carrots so early, I think the farmers mentioned it to you because our policy is import substitution so we need to have local production. If we can extend the period of time that we have local production that means we can import less so the challenge to them has been let's try to produce more even if it is what we call out of season."
"We need to try to find the varieties because there are new varieties being tested and being put out in the market that can last longer and can tolerate more heat as well so that kind of research is the challenge we would have at central farm where we would have to try these varieties to see how we can produce or how they grow out of season so then we can pass on that knowledge to the farmers to see how they can do that."
And while that's all in due time, the question remains whether the farmers will be able to supply the current demand.
Barry Palacio, District Coordinator, Orange Walk
"That is a yes. The projection for carrot production is within the range of almost 3 million pounds of carrots, historically Belize only produces 1.2, 1.3 million pounds of carrots so the projection is that we'll have the other side of the problem in which the farmers will be tasked as to how they will market their product and unless we do value adding or some their product or perhaps a new market, the farmers will have that problem."
And Palacio reminded us that the harvesting of the actual carrot season hasn't happened yet but next week, we'll be seeing carrots from Corozal, Cayo, Stann Creek on top of what's already being harvested in Orange Walk.
So he says a little patience will go a long way and soon those carrot cakes will be on everyone's dessert menu.
And while a normal carrot harvest would yield 14,000 pounds of carrots, this out of season harvest yielded only 7,000. But since new farmers who lost their job due to COVID have now joined the game and will be producing carrots and other vegetables in the near future.
