And the Belize Marketing and Development Corporation - which is widely blamed for the shortages - had its own explanation today.
Voice of: Valentin Carillo, Admin for BMDC
"I believe there are many factors that contribute to vegetable prices. The main cause is the weather conditions. Farmers are growing a lot of these vegetables outfield and it has been raining for about three weeks. These conditions are not good for these vegetables so they are facing some losses."
"It is no different to the conditions outside. Mexico for example where we import lettuce, celery and broccoli. They are also facing heavy rainfalls and drought. Some of our Vendors said that even hail has dropped on these vegetables which are growing outfield also."
"So it's not something locally, it's across the board. Mexico, Guatemala; the prices are high. Last week we were in El Salvador and that is the price of yellow onions. $1.05 USD/lb."
"It is a climate issue. Farmers have been facing a lot of losses and production decreases. Weather conditions. Extreme drought and heat and now excessive rains. These are short term vegetables, imagine you have something affecting you for one month that's nearly half the life cycle of these products so of course you will see an effect."
