Imports, weather hurt farmers

WALDERSTON, Manchester:

POTATO AND vegetable farmers in North East Manchester are faced with financial difficulties due to the importation of cheaper products as well as the reduction in demand for the crops usually exported.

This is compounded by unusually harsh weather conditions since May which have not only affected the quality of crop but prevented the planting of new ones.

One Christiana farmer told The Gleaner that the hot dry spell would not seriously affect Irish potatoes which are now being harvested.

But, he claimed that the real problem involved foreign potatoes which were still being "dumped on us" despite the Agriculture Minister's promise to impose a 180 per cent tariff on imported agricultural produce.

Irish potato growers say they are anxious to see the effect the protective tariff will have.

Contacted for comment, a Ministry of Agriculture official said that the Minister's announcement on the tariff was of a proposal being pursued and which is still before the Cabinet for consideration.

It would only include selected products, and the quoted figure of 180 per cent includes a tariff of 100 per cent plus stamp duty of 80 per cent, said the official. The proposals have not yet been approved nor enforced.

Meanwhile, farmers of sweet potatoes say they cannot pay their bills as exporters refuse to buy their crops in the usual quantities. A source said that the quality of the tuber now being harvested was inferior. Farmers now sell locally for between $5 to $10 per pound, prices at which they incur huge losses.

The usually industrious hillside farmers who cultivate cabbage, carrots, tomatoes and red peas are now idle, awaiting better weather conditions.

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