Consumers are paying more for some ground produce as the agricultural sector reels from the effects of the recent flood rains.
These include cabbage, tomato, Irish potato and scallion.
In some instances the prices have more than tripled.
The RJR News team went to the Coronation Market on Monday afternoon to assess the effect of the heavy rains on market goods. One vendor told the news team that Irish potato has been raised to $50 per pound, coming from $30 or $40. She said cabbage also now costs $50, up from a price of $30.
But the biggest increase is in the price of scallion. A shopper told RJR News team that she paid $70 per pound prior to the flood rains but would now have to pay as much as $250. As a result, she is forced to purchase smaller quantities of the item.
Although shoppers have complained about the significant increase in the price of scallion, a vendor explained that the price increase is not only due to the recent inclement weather but also the impact of the beet armyworm which was wreaking havoc on farmers prior to the flood rains.
At least two food items, however, have decreased in price despite the heavy rains. They are sweet potato and carrot. Carrot that was sold for $120 and $150 per pound has moved down to $80 and $100 per pound.
There were no reports of shortages of agricultural produce at the Coronation Market.
No surprise
Meanwhile, Donovan Stanberry, Permanent Secretary in the Agriculture Ministry, said he is not surprised that vendors have increased their prices of most of their goods given the extent of the damage due to flood rains and lost production time.
“But we are satisfied based on our assessment and interaction with farmers that most of them have in fact taken measures to restart production, and of course, the ministry supports those efforts through our production incentive programme; and so we expect within six weeks to three months for production levels to be restored,” he declared.