UDP Says Carrots in the North are Rotting in the Fields

The United Democratic Party recently raised an issue regarding import permits and prices for carrots on the local market.  It is similar to an issue that was brought to light a few years ago in the House of Representatives involving the rotting of vegetables on farms in the north, particularly in San Carlos Village.  On Tuesday, Opposition Leader Shyne Barrow commented on what he describes as a wastage of locally grown carrots.

 

Shyne Barrow, Leader of the Opposition

“The complaint by the farmers is that it‘s all politics and it‘s all corruption.  So the minister gives all of these permits to import the produce that the farmers of Belize are selling, so nobody wants to consume their product when the people that bring it in they sell it for much cheaper because they may be in a position to do so.  This government promised to be a socially conscious government, a government that is there for the working class, there for the laborers, there for the farmers, and that is not what is happening.  Everything should be done to assist small farmers, especially, but all farmers, all Belizean farmers, to sell their produce before we get to any distribution of importation license for those that our farmers are selling.  And so, here we are again, the carrots are rotting.  When we had the issue and the opposition was raising it, there was a promise that the sales department for crops and cattle would come, representatives would come from the Marketing Board and try to find a solution as to how to help especially the small farmers.”