And we also asked the Agriculture Minister about the onion situation in the north. Farmers from Concepcion have been complaining that while their produce is rotting in the farms, GOB is permitting the importation of onions into the country.
The Minister explained that this is a recurring issue, because there's a gap during the holidays that needs to be filled with the imported produce - and it overlaps with the beginning of the local harvest.
Here's how he put it.
Hon. Jose Mai, Minister of Agriculture
"This has always been at the beginning of the onion harvest, that little moment during the year when you import because there is a shortage, there is not enough on the market. You import little amounts and then the farmers want to harvest. You have to understand the farmers, they want to get the better price on the market, so when there is none and they are the first to harvest, they get the better price. So I understand them."
"The harvest is supposed to come in this week, but for the Christmas holidays you have to have onions on the market, so there is a small gap that we need to fill with the imported onions. So we monitor carefully and then we decide what to do; we import 40,000 pounds. That should disappear next 5 days of the white onions and the purple onions which is a niche. So there is a small amount on the market, but it's nothing that will deter or that will affect the sales of local onions."
"On the other hand, onions that in Concepcion and other villages, we have to ensure that they are properly cured, but sometimes farmers in a rush like last year I visited the farms myself - they are just harvested yesterday and they wanted to sell right away. Now, anybody who buys that onion will lose, because the onion will rot, because it's not properly cured. Again, we have to give the benefit of the doubt to the farmer, curing onions in Belize is not an easy thing to do. We have tropical and humid conditions, unlike Mexico that has cooler climate, dry climate and the onions cures beautifully. So its seals and there is no problem. So, I don't think there will be a problem of them not being able to sell their products, but I will probably take this weekend or early next week to go visit the fields to see really what's happening. I do not believe its going to be a problem, but we have to monitor it."
