(Jamaica Gleaner) Jamaicans in the diaspora are in for a taste of home this week with the latest shipment of local mangoes destined for the New York market.
Washington, D.C.-based distributor Jamaica Direct Distributing Company joined with Miami-based US importer Season Farm Fresh Inc. and their Jamaican export partners to bring in over 4,500 pounds of St Julian (Julie) and East Indian mangoes. The cargo left Jamaica on Monday with Minister of Industry, Commerce, Agriculture and Fisheries Audley Shaw on hand to witness the departure of the mangoes.
The delectable fruit will be sold to mango lovers of the Jamaican and Caribbean communities in New York’s Brooklyn, Bronx, and Queens boroughs today.
Managing director of Jamaica Direct Distributing Company Byron Wills said the decision to import the mangoes was the result of a bid to help Jamaican farmers experiencing a drastic downturn in sales due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the need for Jamaican mangoes in the US.
He also said that the mangoes were earlier scheduled to be shipped to the US at the beginning of the mango season in April; however, due to the closure of the borders and the temporary suspension of export, the shipment was delayed. Hence, the mango farmers in Jamaica were left to only rely on the local markets to sell their produce.
He said that as commercial airlines were not back in flight as yet, Season Fresh Farm made the decision to charter a cargo plane to transport the mangoes to the USA.
Wills said that partnering with American importer Nicholas Bernal, who owns Season Farm Fresh Inc., both companies were instrumental in working with the Jamaican Government and farming community to bring the mangoes to the north-eastern United States, primarily the New York City and Metropolitan Washington, D.C., markets, in 2019.
He added that the partnership imported over 20,000 pounds of Julie and East Indian varieties of mangoes in 2019 that were sold to a select group of Caribbean-affiliated stores in the New York and Metropolitan Washington, D.C., areas, and also in the South Florida territory.
Wills said that Jamaica Direct Distributing Company is committed to supplying produce to the US markets it serves and hopes that the delivery of these mangoes will “bring some delight and a sense of home” in their difficult times to the Jamaican communities in the New York City region.
