Consumers were on Monday put on alert for a potential increase in the price of produce due to a scarcity of food, as the spokesman for the island’s vendors called for urgent action to address rising import dependency.
The Barbados Association of Retailers, Vendors and Entrepreneurs (BARVEN) on Monday demanded a stakeholder consultation amid warnings that the situation could worsen ahead of the Christmas season.
Market vendors at Cheapside told Barbados TODAY of severe shortages in both local produce and regional imports, exacerbated by disrupted shipping schedules from neighbouring islands following recent hurricane damage.
“The boat that used to come from St Vincent every week, it coming now every other week, cause down there don’t have the amount of food like before since the bad weather,” said Althea, a vendor at the market.
BARVEN Vice President Erskine Forde told Barbados TODAY that farmers are struggling with mounting operational costs.
“The food is very scarce, the price of the food is very high,” he explained. “The farmers have a big problem, too, where they don’t have the different components that you need to get their farms running properly — fertilisers, chemicals; can’t really get labour as you would like either; even the water price is very challenging.”
Wholesale prices have surged dramatically, with boxes of imported tomatoes now costing $135 and oranges starting at $100. Local production has been particularly affected by current weather conditions, with lettuce and cucumber yields hampered by the rainy season.
