160K Heads of Cabbage Destroyed by Floods!
As flooding continues around the country, Valley of Peace farmers say that more than half of their two hundred and sixty-four thousand heads of cabbage has been damaged by flood waters and are no good. The farmers have tried their best to salvage the good ones that are in the soil and ready for harvest, but tonight, there is a massive loss which is definitely going to affect the availability of locally grown cabbage. Belizeans may have to experience a shortage, an increase in price or consume imported produce. Today, News Five travelled west to the farms. Here’s the story.
Ever Blandon, Chairman, Valley of Peace Farmers Association
“Right now, most of the fields that were to be ready to be harvested are destroyed.”
Andrea Polanco, Reporting
One hundred and sixty thousand heads of cabbage have been damaged by floods. A few days ago the flood waters covered these thirty-five acres of cabbage that belongs to the Valley of Peace Famers Association. They are Belize’s largest cabbage producer – and this seventy-five percent loss of cabbage in the ground is not just bad business for the farmers, but they say possibly for the consumers as well.
Ever Blandon
Ever Blandon
“The main crop that we plant here is cabbage.”
Andrea Polanco
“And so you supply that to the entire country?”
Ever Blandon
“Actually the association is the one that sustains the market of cabbage; sustain in that we don’t permit that the importation comes so we have the market with the cabbage. But now we could see that it would be needed to import.”
Andrea Polanco
“So, you think that as a result of this flooding, there may be a shortage of cabbage on the market?”
Ever Blandon
“Ah yes, I would say definitely in the market and the high price will go up too.”
But the cabbage is just one of the crops destroyed in the floods. Smaller plots of onions, cilantro, cucumbers, peppers and tomatoes also took a hit. It started last weekend with the heavy rains – this area experienced close to fifteen inches of rainfall and now these farmers can’t harvest most of what is in the ground.
Ever Blandon
“More than seventy-five percent of the crops were flooded; under water. Now, we can see the results of that flood. More than fifty percent of the crops we will not be harvesting anything – it is all damaged. As you can see – one is the water and the next thing is the fungus and bacteria after is what the plant catch.”
…and the flooding, according to the farmers, is the worst they have seen. When they arrived over the weekend – everything was covered with water. But they allege that it was worsened by their neighbours Valley of Peace Farms.
Ever Blandon
“I could say that this loss was caused by them. Their drainage is not adequate and so it throws all the water to our fields and that is what us causing this big loss.”
Juan Arrias
Juan Arrias, Chairman, Valley of Peace Village
“This is the first time that people have all these losses and it really affect us more this year because the waters come from the cane fields and I would like to have a little conversation there with the owners to see how they can assist and they can’t be losing every year. The thing is, it took them by surprise because we had a big drought and suddenly we had a big rain. So, it really surprised our farmers and our families.”
…and it’s a tough loss for these farmers – who are completely dependent on farming to sustain their livelihoods.
Ever Blandon
“This is a hard moment for them. It is hard to restart again because this plant takes almost four months to harvest to have the vegetables ready to harvest.”
Juan Arrias
“From this area here, they sustained over forty families from the village and because most of the farmers work hard to sustain their families and like how they had this loss here this really affect the families.”
Today, the Ministry of Agriculture was on the ground doing assessments in order to provide some support for these families. The farmers on the other hand are out trying to salvage what they can. They say they are unable to plant in this plot of land right now – but they will bounce back.
Juan Arrias
“They are very sad because the thing is that they will start from zero right now because all the seedlings, all the plants, it takes four months to harvest and so from now it will take four months for them to start harvesting again.”
Reporting for News Five, I’m Andrea Polanco.
