Shelly-Ann Thompson, Staff Reporter

Desmond Whitely shows off his jumbo cauliflower, for which he is seeking a market. - Ian Allen/Staff Photographer

Thousands of pounds of nutritious vegetables like broccoli and cauliflower are being fed to pigs in St Elizabeth, as farmers there are unable to find markets for their produce.

Several farmers of Carlisle community in the Breadbasket Parish said their regular customers, the hotels, were primarily purchasing imported vegetables and that they could not solicit sufficient alternative buyers for their crops.

Desmond Whitely said he usually sold some 800 pounds of cauliflower to the hotels; now they were taking less than half that amount.

"A lot of times, some thousands of pounds of it (cauliflower) me have to feed it to pigs," said Whitely.

"I wouldn't mind somebody come take it off o' me," he added.

The farmer's cauliflower weighs an average of nine pounds each, commanding a price of $25 per pound.

RADA report

Data from the Rural Agricultural Development Authority marketing extension unit show that, within the markets, the vegetable that is rich in vitamins and carbohydrates sells for up to $70 per pound.

A few metres from Whitely's farm, The Gleaner met broccoli cultivator, Patroy Powell.

He, too, like many other farmers within the community that is located some three miles from Junction, has had to dump the vegetable dubbed by nutritionists as 'brain food'.

"Any time the imported ones come, ah this happen to we," said Powell.

Up to yesterday evening, messages left for Wayne Cummings, head of the Jamaica Hotel and Tourist Association, had not been returned.

The broccoli in the community goes for $60 per pound but, within the markets, fetches $120 per pound.

"All the time me have to chop out me land and dump broccoli," he said.

Government assistance

The farmers have called on the Government to assist them with finding a market for their produce - vegetables which cost a minimum of $100,000 a month in purchases of water and fertiliser, to produce.

Prime Minister Bruce Golding, in his contribution to the Budget Debate on Tuesday, said the country could cushion the blow against rising food prices if it decreases its dependence on imports. His comments echoed those of Agriculture Minister Dr Christopher Tufton, in his Budget Debate contribution, almost a week earlier.

Though Golding did not state statistics for vegetable imports, he said the nation ships in some $8 billion worth of fruit concentrate yearly and spends the same amount on corn and soybean.

shelly-ann.thompson@gleanerjm.com