radhica.sookraj@guardian.co.tt
They worked for months tending to their watermelon and canteloupe fields but now at the height of harvest, Mayaro farmers are being forced to dump their produce.
With COVID-19 stifling people’s ability to move around, the farmers say buyers have stopped coming into Kernaham and Cascadoo villages. In desperation, some farmers have been taking their produce to the main road to sell but even there buyers are few and far between.
Speaking exclusively to Guardian Media, president of the Cascadoo and Kernaham Women’s Group Omatie Gajraj-Rampersad said she had over 40,000 pounds of melons to sell.
“I started picking this week. We cannot leave the melons on the fields anymore because they are already ripe and they will spoil. Other farmers started to pick their crops last week. It is really very frustrating because we have no one to buy our produce,” she said.
Gajraj-Rampersad said said COVID-19 stay-at-home orders are devastating for farmers and their families.
“Every day we have to dump goods. Some farmers are renting land and some of us have to pay land rent and also crop share which is a percentage of profits paid to the landowner based on what we pick and sell. Some farmers plant their own land. I plant six acres and most of my crop will come in for the next two weeks. We really need to get some assistance in getting the crops off our hands,” she said.
Lonella Nandoo, of Kernaham Village, said a few people have been going into the village to get melons but some were trying to exploit them.
“Normally the melons wholesale for $2 per pound and retail for $3 and $4 per pound. Now they want to pay us 50 cents and $1 per pound,” she said, adding that such a low price would not even cover the expense of planting the crop.
“It is really unfair that it has reached to this. We want to know what the government has put in place for us to get our produce out,” she said.
Agricultural economist Omardath Maharaj described what was happening to the farmers as a tragedy.
“Farm-level issues relating to the COVID-19 pandemic are rising. Food chains and the usual marketing and distribution channels are being compromised. Rural farmers can be seen either conducting itinerant sales, selling at the municipal markets with family support and relatively subsistence production, or conducting farm-gate sales,” he said.
According to Maharaj, on-farm sales move a large volume of agricultural produce as vans and trucks from varying and sometimes opposites ends of the country come to buy food.
“As anxiety and market uncertainty rises with the COVID-19 pandemic, many stakeholders on the value chain are becoming more discretionary. Farmers are reporting that bulk buyers are lessening rapidly, jeopardizing their investments, compromising their livelihoods, and causing valuable food to be wasted as it is unable to reach to markets and people across the country seamlessly,” he said.
Maharaj said leaving the production of food solely to be determined by market forces and farmers’ private investment horizon is untenable.
“More dangerous is underestimating or miscalculating the dangers and risks associated with surges and collapse of supply. While we must lobby for policy, strategy and programme development for food loss and waste reduction in T&T; public education, awareness and networking is critical to reduce or divert its existence,” he said.
“We must be mindful that food waste is only responsible for a portion of overall food loss. Wasting food, waste produced by the food industry (organic and inorganic) and food losses are serious indictments for which we, as a country, need to address as they pose greater developmental challenges and missed opportunities.”
Contacted for comment, Minister of Agriculture Clarence Rambharat said the farmers could also go to the market to sell their produce.
“The farmers’, municipal and wholesale markets are open. From the outset, the Government has categorised agriculture as essential work. Even as changes were made to the regulations, agriculture has been largely unaffected,” he said.
Rambharat said one farmer reported problems at 1.45 am in Flanagin Town and he immediately advised the Commissioner of Police who briefed the officers.
“When there were further changes to the regulations this week, I discussed with the Attorney General and Minister of National Security the market opening hours. We agreed on a range of 4 am to 4 pm for wholesale markets, the usual 5 am to 2 pm for farmers’ markets and from 3 am for fish markets. We have had no issues,” he said.
The minister said he will ask officials from Namdevco to contact the Kernaham farmers to assist in getting their produce to market.
“We also recently arranged cold storage space and I have asked Namdevco to explore this option with the Kernaham farmers,” Rambharat added.