7 News Belize

Potato And Onion Farmers Call Out For Protection
posted (January 17, 2018)
San Carlos Village in the south of the Orange Walk District is home to about 35 families and was founded in 1994. But what it lacks in numbers and history it makes up for in sheer productivity. Farmers there produce countless bushels of potatoes and bunches of onions. And this year, they don't want to end up like last year when they say special permits left them with potatoes rotting in the field. Here’s the view from their farmlands:

Jules Vasquez reporting
These potatoes in the field and these rows of onions may make a pretty picture but there’s a lot of investment behind all this acreage. For example, these irrigation rigs are critical to the crop. They pump all day but are fuelled by gas engines and must filter through thousands of feet of irrigation hoses. Then there are the costs of pesticides and fertilizers, it adds up to quite a chunk of money.

Max Hernandez- Farmer, San Carlos
“It’s almost $5 thousand for one acre. In total, between the onion and the potatoes, it is almost 60 acres. That’s almost $300 thousand dollars of investment.â€￾

And recovering this investment is a priority and a concern. Since last year the farmers were forced to leave their potatoes rotting in the field. So this time they are getting the word out early. They have 30 acres of potatoes and 30 acres of onions.

Max Hernandez- Farmer, San Carlos
“The idea is to send the message to the minister of agriculture, we have local product. The thing is the government helps protect us by not importing, no contraband, not giving permits to the special people so as to support the local farmers that want to sell their products. Last year we had a big problem to sell our products.â€￾

Hon. Jose Mai - Area Representative
“We decided now to bring the media out here to look before we have a crisis so that the government cannot come and say that they did not know that there were 30 acres of potatoes and 30 acres of onions under production and therefore they imported that and then the farmers are losing their shirt.â€￾

The problem is the wholesale price - the farmers need the middlemen to pay them 85 cents a pound minimum for potatoes:

Max Hernandez- Farmer, San Carlos
“I don’t know who put the 75 cents a pound per potatoes man. We don’t make a profit for that. Encourage the government to help us sell our product, fresh products, healthy products, at a price where we will make a profit. Right now for the investment to not fail the average is 85 cents a pound.â€￾

Hon. Jose Mai - Area Representative
“He wants 85 cents for his pound, for a pound of potatoes, but you go to the market and see what is the cost of potatoes right now. Many Belizeans prefer to buy an imported potato at a high price than to support the farmer selling at 85 cents a pound. Now the middleman who will buy potatoes from Max, those people will sell at $1.25 or $1.50 a pound. The store will sell it at $1.85 to $2 a pound. The farmer will get the smallest share. It is very sad.â€￾

It’s the small farmer’s plight. They take great risks and lovingly tend their lands but the vagaries of supply and demand and the cruel logic of the marketplace can leave them exposed.

Hon. Jose Mai - Area Representative
“Faced with high and compounded interest rates, the farmers are losing their shirt. I was in the neighborhood last week visiting farmers when I met three bankers in this area seeking to collect from farmers who are owing them. The farmers are at a loss at this time.â€￾

And that's probably why you don't see any boys among these men who live off the land.

Max Hernandez- Farmer, San Carlos
“You see the age for every farmer right now is 50 years old. The young farmers are less - why because the young farmers see that farming doesn’t make business because it doesn’t make money.â€￾

Regarding the issuance of import permits Agriculture, CEO Jose Alpuche today told us that it is “a delicate balance to strike at the start and end of any crop, as the amount does not meet domestic demand.â€￾

He said surveys of production have already been done and imports will be limited as production increases.

As for the price, he stressed that these products are not price controlled. He added, quote, “We will do all we can to protect both farmers and consumers.â€￾

He adds that his ministry just ended another 3 year project to assist onion farmers in the north.

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