Urgent meeting on food prices needed

THE EDITOR: The high cost of fresh market produce has now reached our tables. Many are unable to afford basic items such as sweet peppers, tomatoes, cabbage, etc.

With the recent floods and high cost of production it is no wonder that citizens are now at the receiving end of this disaster in agriculture.

With some farmers unable to return to farming because of lack of capital, having been wiped out, it is no small wonder that food prices are at an all-time high.

Farmers need an urgent helping hand, not just platitudes and empty promises, if they are to return to the land. With the dry season upon us, WASA is once again advertising for farmers to apply for water abstraction licences, an unnecessary but worrisome financial burden for farmers who may already be on the breadline.

There is the issue of the middlemen who continue to be brokers of market goods and create unnecessary markups for a small service as buying in bulk – a service Namdevco should be doing.

While the list of woes continues, complaining will not help and neither will pointing fingers at excessive markups by retailers across the country.

In light of the high cost of these fresh market items it is time the Government moves expeditiously to meet with all stakeholders to best determine how prices can be brought under control. So that even the poorest can once again enjoy the basic green market items so necessary to our people's heath and well-being.

SATYANAND MAHARAJ

president, Aranguez

United Farmers Association