Shelly-Ann Thompson, Freelance Writer
AT THE Falmouth market in Trelawny, a pound of tomatoes sells for $20. The same goes at the Morant Bay market in St. Thomas.
However, travel west to the Charles Gordon Market in Montego Bay, St. James, and $10 will buy you a pound of tomatoes. Better yet, shop at the renowned Coronation Market in downtown Kingston and $8 will give you a pound of the fruit.
Late last year, in the post-Hurricane Ivan period, imported tomatoes were going for more than 10 times the current prices, at about $250 per pound due to the scarcity on the local market. (Pre-Hurricane Ivan the going rate was $80 a pound.)
LOST CROP
Senator Norman Grant, president of the Jamaica Agricultural Society (JAS), explains that tomato crops and seeds were destroyed during the passage of the hurricane.
To assist local growers, the JAS, the Rural Agricultural Development Authority (RADA) and other farming agencies stepped in to distribute seeds to growers.
Farmers, realising the going price at the time, wanted to cash in and so planted heavily. Across the island the planting was done at the same time which means the crop has come in at the same time, thereby creating the current surplus, explains Senator Grant.
The surplus is greatest in St. Elizabeth, where farmers invested heavily in the crop. In addition, the climatic condition rain, damp soil was the perfect fit, notes Senator Grant. In St. Elizabeth vendors can buy tomatoes from cultivators for $3 to $5 a pound.
TOMATO FI STONE 'DAWG'
With supply higher than demand, many farmers and vendors are losing out. Vendors say they are forced to sell tomatoes so cheaply they make little or no profit. Farmers are also complaining that their tomatoes are rotting.
Esther Petrie buys produce at the Coronation Market and sells at the Morant Bay market. (She buys the fruit for about $8 a pound and resells it for $20. In the immediate post-hurricane period she bought foreign tomatoes for $150 a pound and resold them for between $160 and $180.) Petrie says she still has half of the 40 pounds of tomatoes she bought last week Wednesday. The week before that she had to throw away pounds of leftovers.
"It's not selling. It's not bright. Everybody I ask, 'buy tomato', they say 'I have tomato'. There is tomato like nothing," says Petrie, a vendor for more than 20 years.
While Petrie is having problems, Clive 'Copper Reds' Robinson, a vendor in the Port Antonio
market in Portland, says the tomato business is good for him. He explains that instead of allowing
the produce to spoil he lowers his price once he is making
a profit.
FAST AND CHEAP
"It sell fast because it cheap. Mi always sell off. Some (vendors) sell fi $30 and $40 but mi sell for $20...I don't hole up the tomato because they will buy somewhere else. Is that happen to some a dem (vendors) because they don't waan drop price so what meck it spoil or throw a way," adds Robinson who
operates a green grocery stall at the market. Several times a week, he buys about 200 to 400 pounds of tomatoes for $7 to $8 a pound.
SECRET PLAN TO TURN
TOMATOES INTO CASH
In the meantine the JAS has come up with a way to assist farmers and vendors.
"It's not fair for farmers to plant the crops and then have no one to sell them to," says Senator Grant.
This is being done through
the Central Market Service for agricultural produce which
guarantees a market for farmers. JAS has bought bought 9,000 pounds of tomatoes which it has stored in its depot in Bull Savannah, St. Elizabeth, and intends to buy another 6,000 to 9,000 pounds by the end of this week for regional distribution and processing.
Senator Grant explains that the JAS has big plans to create a special product made from tomatoes to be unveiled in the four weeks.
"When there is a difficulty or problem we see it as a stepping stone. Very soon everyone will know of this wonderful product made from tomatoes courtesy of the JAS."
He is also encouraging farmers who have a surplus of tomatoes to take it to the Bull Savannah depot or contact JAS.
