Belize Produces Good Quality Carrots

Among the issues that have been affecting the industry is price gouging. This is being carried out by those described as “predatory persons” who mark up the prices, burdening consumers. Regarding recent reports that some carrots seem to rot quickly, Orange Walk District Agriculture Coordinator Barry Palacio says that all carrots – imported or local – generally have a shelf life of about three to four days. He says that the quality of the vegetable in Belize is good, but the middle men purchasing large quantities of the vegetables and may have passed them on to the vendor days later.

Barry Palacio

Barry Palacio, District Agriculture Coordinator, Orange Walk

“In most of our neighboring countries, farmers are heavily subsidized. In Belize, our farmers are not subsidized and the cost of our inputs is higher than our neighbours so it will cost our farmers more to produce because of that situation. However that can also be a blessing in disguise because our farmers produce a wholesome product, a product that is healthy as oppose to what we bring in and we don’t even know what has been applied to them. The policy is to facilitate local produce. In so doing, some people want to take advantage to it and they sell the general public items that are substandard. As we will be sharing with you, here at San Carlos there is a process, from the fields; the produce is washed, it is sorted and graded and then sold to the buyers. That incident that happened a week or two ago, that process did not happen. People were trying to make a quick buck and they failed to conduct or to practice these safe practices. And that in itself contributes to that age-old perception that the local produce is not good.”

Palacio says that more dialogue and consumer protection will have to be factored in to safeguard against these bad practices.