Maya Papaya hit by economic woes; two hundred workers let go

When Hurricane Dean hit northern Belize in August of last year, one of the industries that suffered a big hit was papaya. Tonight the storm’s after effects are having some serious financial implications for an Orange Walk company and hundreds of workers. News Five’s Kendra Griffith reports.

Kendra Griffith, Reporting
Since Monday an eerie silence has invaded the once busy Maya Papaya packing and shipping facility: container trucks are parked, crates are empty, and machines lay dormant.

Abe Dyck, Managing Dir./Co-owner, Maya Papaya
“As of last week Friday we were forced to lay off all of our workers.”

Kendra Griffith
“How many workers are we talking about?”

Abe Dyck
“We ourselves, Maya Papaya and Eagle Produce, we have two hundred and forty employees, but there are other farmers that we are buying fruit from and they altogether we have somewhere around four hundred people that are currently unemployed.”

According to Managing Director and co-owner of Maya Papaya, Abe Dyck, the decision to close shop is as a result of a financial hit from Hurricane Dean, compounded by an inability to access credit.

Abe Dyck
“We sustained some significant losses. We had lost over two million dollars and that has brought some serious financial constraints on us. We’ve tried different things; locating proper funding to keep the project going. We’ve been unsuccessful to this point. The banks are willing to lend us money, but they need a land title for any kind of funding that we look at. They basically extended their graces as far as they can. At this point they want some sort of land title. That is one of the issues we have here right now, we cannot get a land title.”

Dyck says they have owned the property since 1987, but a land dispute a couple years ago and the recent freeze on titles imposed when the U.D.P. was elected has them in a stranglehold.

Abe Dyck
“We have talked to numerous different people in the government and at this point we have not had any success in trying to resolve that. Part of it is the tax issue that they are charging us on the land, which we are in dispute. We are supposed to pay fairly high taxes on it right now compared to what have been in the past. We used to pay around sixty cents to a dollar an acre, this year I am supposed to pay over twelve dollars an acre for my tax.”

Kendra Griffith
“This thirty acre plot of Tainung number one papayas are ready to be harvested, and they will be. But instead of being exported, they are going to the dump.”

Abe Dyck
“Unfortunately, we have to throw that fruit away. One week of fruit that we won’t be harvesting works out to a hundred and forty thousand U.S. dollars right now that will not be shipped out as a result of it. I got an email this morning from our buyer in the states. They are quite concerned about that, but it’s something that we need to work with them. We are trying to work to see how we can resolve this issue. It will affect our market if we don’t supply them with fruit for several weeks. The buyers will go and find a different supplier.”

Since 2006, the company, located near Indian Church village in Orange Walk, has been a major employer for residents in that community and the surrounding villages of San Felipe, August Pine Ridge, and San Carlos.

Florencio Sanchez, Agronomist, Maya Papaya
“Basically what I deal with is management, dealing exporting of the fruit and getting the supplies that we need to export the papayas.”

Agronomist Florencio Sanchez lives in August Pine Ridge. He is one of the few employees who have been retained to keep the facility in order in case there is a breakthrough.

Florencio Sanchez
“Lots of people depend on us, especially my village that had Nova Shrimp close down. Many of them were employed there and Nova Shrimp closed down, Maya Papaya opened, so they were gainfully employed here. The way the situation is, we don’t know what we will turn to after this, if it doesn’t get better.”

Kendra Griffith
“How many persons would you estimate from your village?”

Florencio Sanchez
“In my village, we have forty-eight people right now.”

Dyck says they have been trying to resolve the problem and on Tuesday met with the Orange Walk Agriculture Department.

Abe Dyck
“I think it was a very successful meeting. They said they would see how they can help us. We have in the past have a very good relationship with Esquivel and his crews from the Ministry of Agriculture in Orange Walk. We hope that we can continue a good relationship with them. But they have to go on to their superiors to see what they can do for us. We are also looking at international funding sources, but that is not something that will help us in the immediate problem that we have right now.”

And now the future of four hundred workers and a hundred and ninety-six acres of papaya trees are in limbo. Kendra Griffith reporting for News Five.

Eagle Produce is the sister company of Maya Papaya. According to Abe Dyck, they were shipping seventeen containers, approximately twenty thousand boxes of papaya per week. This afternoon, News Five spoke to Chief Agriculture Officer Eugene Waight, who says he has been briefed on the issue by the Orange Walk agriculture department and that the ministry will see how they can intervene and assist Maya Papaya. We were, however, unable to reach Lands Commissioner Rolando Rosado or his deputy, Manuel Rodriguez, for comment.