The scorching hot sun of the past few weeks has been an economic boon for coconut vendors and 52-year-old Buxtonian Selwyn Rosamond openly admits that he has been cashing in on it.
When Stabroek News caught up with him on Tuesday Rosamund was in mourning. His older brother Francis, who had brought him into the coconut water business, had died the previous Saturday and the family was preparing to bury him.
Rosamund recalled that he was about 11 when he first started selling coconut water. During the school holidays he used to travel to Bourda Market with his brother. As he grew older he gravitated towards doing odd jobs but eventually rejoined his brother outside Bourda Market. The trade was good and the profits, which often amounted to three or four thousand dollars, would be divided between them.
After he got married about 15 years ago Rosamond started his own coconut water business on Robb Street. He recalled that he started with 300 nuts which he had bought in Buxton and transported to Robb Street. These days he purchases several hundred from farmers in the Pomeroon River where the prices are better. The nuts are transported to Georgetown by boat. From the Stabroek wharf they are transported by Canter truck to Bourda Market.
Rosamond said his customers favour the taste of the Pomeroon nuts so he goes to the trouble to make them available.
The hot weather yields better business all round. These days he orders up to 1,500 and disposes of them in a week. When the weather cools down he will reduce the level of his purchases to 500. He buys the coconuts at $100 each and retails at $160 each. He says he has been following some of the writings on the medicinal and nutritional properties of coconut water and believes that those views have contributed to the growth of the industry.
This newspaper’s conversation with Rosamond was interrupted by an intermittent arrival of customers. He said he would sell until around midnight after which he would fit his five foot frame into his stall and settle down for the night.
Business has been slowing down, Rosamund said. But he is neither melancholy nor pessimistic. He has grown used to the ebb and flow of demand. Like many other businessmen with whom this newspaper has spoken Rosamond is banking on the power of Christmas.
In relatively recent times coconut water vendors have been facing competition from itinerant vendors offering aerated drinks and bottled water. Those vendors, he noted, have the advantage of mobility though customer loyalty still makes the coconut water business viable.
There have been other challenges associated with the coconut water trade. About ten years ago the vendors were removed from Robb Street to Orange Walk. Rosamund says it took a while to adjust. At first, their customers couldn’t find them. Now it’s back to the old routine.
About two years ago he diversified into agriculture on a two-acre plot aback of Buxton. He cultivates plantain and cassava and sells at the Buxton market on Sundays. On weekdays his wife does the selling. The farm provides employment for seven young people in Buxton and he has further diversified into other cash crops. In the hot weather, however, things have slowed down.
He believes that the rise in crime is in large measure a function of a scarcity of jobs. He says that finding jobs for young people must be a priority of the government. For him, however, coconut water is the future of his business never mind the fact that he is keeping a keen eye on the growing export market and the impact on local prices.
