At the Bourda and Stabroek markets, vendors confirmed the falling prices. Tomatoes are retailing for as low as $60 per pound, while pumpkins are bountiful and were being sold at $100 for huge slices. At Bourda, one vendor is selling whole pumpkins for $100. Cabbages, and okra are retailing between $60 and $100 per pound, and squashes and shallot per bundle were also being sold at a $100. Sweet peppers are being retailed at $100 per parcel or quarter pound.
According to a vendor at the Stabroek Market, vegetable prices have been at current levels for nearly a month. He added that they are being wholesaled at a cheap rate, hence the low retail price.
And while pak choy and thick leaf calaloo were being sold at $200 per bundle, some bundles included five heads of the leafy vegetables. Bora, however, was still being sold at $200 per bundle.
Plantains, which were being sold between $100 and $120 per pound at both markets last week, are now being retailed at $80 per pound. One vendor at the Bourda Market was selling plantains at $100 per pound and a half. Cassavas and eddoes are also being sold as low as $60 per pound, and some vendors are selling the eddoes at $50.
This newspaper had reported in its March 9th edition that West Berbice farmers were being faced with a glut of vegetables, which they said resulted from the grow More Food campaign initiated by the Ministry of Agriculture. While the farmers were pleased with the initiative, they complained that “people hardly buying so we have to sell the greens cheap…”
Shoppers, however, are not complaining about the prices and see the low prices as an ease to their pockets.
