Tonight, reports coming out of the San Carlos village in Orange Walk South are that carrot farmers are staring down at a building economic crisis.
They currently have approximately 800 to 1,000 sacks of carrots under cultivation. Those carrots have been ready to harvest for some time now. The problem is that they have no buyers. If they don't get any customers to purchase their produce within the next two weeks, all those carrots in the fields will rot.
That represents thousands of dollars in investment from each farmer, and they are sounding an alarm to the nation and the government to come to their aid. They've reportedly already had to throw away some of their carrots that stayed in the fields for too long.
They allege that contraband vegetables and import permits granted by the Ministry of Agriculture have saturated the local market for carrots and even onions. So, there is no demand for their produce.
The farmers say that when they do get buyers, those customers try to haggle downward for a discount, to which they must reluctantly agree or keep their produce until it rots. They say that those reduced prices cause them to lose the money they invested in production costs, which means they fall deeper into debt.
This evening, we spoke via telephone with a female farmer from the village, who described the community's collective distress:
Orfa Deodanes - Carrot Farmer, San Carlos Village
"It's true because we have a lot of contraband and buyers aren't coming here to San Carlos. They just ask for 10 sacks, 20 sacks, and 30 sacks, in a week. Before they say that the Belizean people eat 40,000 pounds of carrots every week. Why do they just buy 10 sacks, 20 sacks, and 30 sacks [from us]? That is all that they buy."
Daniel Ortiz
"We understand that you guys have some 800 sacks of carrots that are currently ready for harvest and will spoil if you don't get a buyer. Explain that to us."
Orfa Deodanes
"Right now, yes, we have around 800 to 1,000 sacks ready for harvest, and if we don't sell them in 2 weeks, then the carrots will spoil. It will get expired."
Daniel Ortiz
"What do you guys need from Belizeans and from the government to ensure that the investment that the farmers have made won't go to waste?"
Orfa Deodanes
"Well, let them do the work and stop the contraband or work on that. We, the farmers of San Carlos, make Loans at DFC, and then, when we can't sell, the bank won't get the money. We can't pay our bills. We really want the government to work on contraband. Please send us buyers to buy our food."
Today, we contacted Agriculture Minister Jose Mai for comment on this issue, but at newstime he had not responded to our request.
