Cost of potatoes going up by a dollar…

Potatoes and lettuce, they are constant on dinner tables and indeed you can’t have rice and beans without potato or garden salad. There was a scarcity of both staples in the past few weeks and this triggered the importation of the products from neighbouring Mexico. But while this solved the issue of availability, it caused another problem that is putting a licking on consumers. When News Five went to vendors at the markets, we found that along with the huge jump in fuel prices in the past few days, the retail price of potato has skyrocketed to double the cost—a whopping two dollars and fifty-cents per pound. The price on the head of imported lettuce, meanwhile, has gone up by a dollar.

Duane Moody
“Potato and lettuce apparently the prices have increased?”

Marc-Anthony Sanchez, Vendor
“Yes sir. The reason why we have to sell the potatoes very expensive price is because the importers, the people who got the permit, they are selling the potato one hundred and seventy and two hundred and ten dollars per sack and that cause we a lot of problem in the business.”

Duane Moody
“Miss Edith, potato gone up, your one gone up too?”

Edith Brakeman, Vendor
“Well, yes bwai, mines dah two dollars and two-fifty a pound fi dehn one yah so and di dirty one dah two dollars a pound.”

Duane Moody
“You got it imported?”

Edith Brakeman
“Yap.”

Duane Moody
“Why is it that you raise the price?”

Edith Brakeman
“Because I di pay one hundred and seventy-five dollars for the sack—dat da fi di dirty one. Di clean one dah one sixty-five fi the sack so we have to go up.”

Duane Moody
“Now it’s up high so you got to raise your price by a dollar?”

Edith Brakeman
“ That’s more than a dollar and most, everybody, di sell fi two dollars, two-fifty.”

Duane Moody
“How much are they selling you the sack for and what effect does that have on your retail price?”

Howell Castaneda, Vendor
“Dat gone up whole ah wah hundred dollars in difference because the sack ah dirty potato first dah mi just eighty-five. Right now dah a hundred and eighty-five dollars per sack. In difference dah whole ah hundred dollars in difference.”

Duane Moody
“And what is it now that you guys are charging for the pound of potato?”

Howell Castaneda
“Two dollars pan di table and if we charge two dollars, we barely make weh we invest. Di minister da di one weh have di fault, because di potato, usually di people weh bring in di product, dehn get dehn consignment, but now dis no go like dat. Just di people dehn from San Ignacio weh dah dehn own family—dehn dah di one weh di get di consignment fi di potatoes. So dehn got di system manipulated. Dehn could put two hundred dollars fi wah sack and we have to pay fi it. Dehn di claim seh dat di Mexican side prices gone up but I mi deh over deh last week and I di check di price dehn and there is nothing like that.”