George Henry, Gleaner Writer
Melvin Nembhard and a colleague prepare a field to plant thyme on his farm in Nain, St. Elizabeth. - PHOTO BY GEORGE HENRY
MALVERN, St. Elizabeth:
PRODUCERS OF thyme in southern St. Elizabeth are seeking the assistance of Agriculture Minister Roger Clarke to regain access to the lucrative United States market in the face of stiff competition from Colombian producers.
The farmers complained that there has been a significant reduction in thyme sales for export as importers in the United States have turned to the Colombian producers.
NO PROPER MARKET
"The problem is that we do not have a proper market for our thyme anymore. The people in the U.S. to whom we usually sell have said that they are now purchasing thyme from Colombia, but they have not given us any reason for doing so," said Melvin Nembhard, a thyme farmer.
Mr. Nembhard, who is a large-scale thyme farmer and exporter, lamented that he and other exporters have been experiencing difficulties entering that market. As a result, farmers in the thyme-producing community of Nain said they have lost hundreds of thousands of dollars to spoilage as exporters were purchasing significantly less quantities.
Another farmer, Kenrick Morgan, who cultivates over one and a half acre of the crop, said he has been in the business for more than 10 years, but the past year has been the worst for him.
NO HELP
"I used to sell a lot of thyme to exporters, but I cannot do so any longer because the market overseas is not helping us, due to competition from another country," said Mr. Morgan. "Sometimes I have to throw it away because it is not moving. I lose a lot of money because I have to pay like $1,500 per day to labourers to work on my farm, but I can't make back much due to the cutback in exportation," he added.
They said the local market has been unable to absorb the excess. Mr. Nembhard pointed out that although higglers make purchases, most were unwilling to pay the farm gate price. He said some local purchasers make offers of between $70 and $100 per pound, but noted that those prices did not allow them to break even due to the high cost of inputs and labour.
