Whereas consumers in Guyana can rely on an all-year-round supply of citrus fruit at prices that tend to be vulnerable to adjustments that trigger sharp cuts in consumer purchases,, other countries, some of them here in the Caribbean, must, periodically, face much heftier price hikes that can create seasonal separation of consumers from what, in a number of instances, are their favourite fruits.
Earlier this week the Jamaica Gleaner (Monday February 17) was reporting on the fact that citrus fruit in the CARICOM member country were fetching what it described as “record prices” arising out of what the report said was due to a “severe shortage locally and across the globe, caused by both disease and climate events.”
The Gleaner reported that there is, currently, “a high demand for seedlings from persons seeking to establish small plots.” In response, the Jamaican government, through its Ministry of Agriculture, is rolling out what the newspaper describes as “a citrus revitalization programme” that focuses on the parish of Manchester. So apparently worrying is Jamaica’s citrus challenge that the manager of the country’s Seed Certification Unit in the Ministry of Agriculture, Alfred Barrett, is on record as stating that “Jamaica now has some of the most expensive citrus across the world.”