Cabbage: King of Ruby but marketing is bane of farmers

-export market seen as too picky

`They saying this ah the food basket but it ain’t get no proper road and by the time you reach market, the basket bruk up’

(This is the third part in a series on the Grow More Food campaign. The first part appeared in the Sunday Stabroek of September 5 and the second part appeared in yesterday’s edition.)

Cabbage is king in the Bhagwandin brothers’ farm at Ruby. Though it is expensive to maintain, it is one of the most “payable” crops, Davindra Bhagwandin said.

He and his brother, Rohit have been cultivating this crop for over seven years, since he left school, he said. They also grow other crops on ten acres of land at Ruby on the East Bank Essequibo. However, at the moment, Davindra said, they have eased back on planting because of falling prices. “It’s a go and come thing,” with agriculture, he said.

The potholed Parika Back road which many farmers are complaining about.

“Farming is a gamble but you does gat to go to it cause that’s how we make our living,” said Mahadeo Mohan, at his farm at Parika Back. In a series of interviews with Stabroek News recently, farmers in those areas spoke of their farming and what has been happening in recent years. Despite the Grow More Food campaign, many have continued to farm in much the same way they had before and continue to face the same problems.

“Marketing is a big issue to our farmers,” exclaims Kapieldo Persaud. Persaud is the Chairman of the Parika/Naamryck/Ruby Farmers Progressive Organisation with just about 100 financial members. Eager to speak, he said that there isn’t a proper market for the crops produced and the road is also bad. “They saying this ah the food basket but it ain’t get no proper road and by the time you reach market, the basket bruk up,” he said.

The organisation he heads began with support from the Canadian Hunger Foundation (CHF) and the members received $20,000 in farming inputs every three months. That support has ended and Persaud said that they are trying to get some support from the Rural Enterprise and Agricultural Development (READ) project but have not received a response as yet. He said that no member of his organisation exports produce but there are a few in the area who do. “The exporter don’t pay good price,” he said and because of this farmers are reluctant to get into this aspect of the business. “They ain’t coming to no proper understanding with farmers,” he said, adding that the authorities should ensure that farmers don’t get a “raw deal”.

Davindra Bhagwandin standing in one of his cabbage fields at Ruby, East Bank Essequibo recently.

Persaud argued that financing is a big problem saying that to get to the standards demanded by exporters, requires money. “When you go to the minister, he said he don’t care about that, is you and the bank business,” he said adding that “farming is a gamble”.
Uniformity
Farmers who have had contact with exporters were not pleased with their experience. Bhagwandin said he focuses on the local market. “When you go foh export, the people nah want all the produce. They want the best,” he said. He added that the buyers want uniformity in the produce: “if they buy pepper, they want a size of pepper”. This is difficult to do; Bhagwandin said adding that it is a big obstacle. He pointed out too that they would still have to find a market for the other sizes that the buyers do not want. The young farmer said that the local buyers would take all the produce at one price.

He recalled that one exporter ordered cassava but he was never seen again. He had also ordered papaw of a certain size. “Where you gon get that from?” Bhagwandin questioned.

Freshly picked cabbage waiting to be transported to the market at Ruby, East Bank Essequibo recently.

Rajesh Ganesh used to export pepper and seame but is not doing so now. “They come in here one, two time and after you nah see them back,” he said. He spoke of persons ordering certain amounts and never returning or going back and saying they don’t want the produce because of the amount of chemicals used. He said persons have gone to the community to discuss quality in produce. “If you get export market and good price, it gon work out,” he said. He pointed out too that for this market, farmers have to combine because they would be unable to produce the amount required.

Farmers continue to face the challenges, they encountered in the past including gluts due to the limited local market. When this newspaper spoke with him last month, Bhagwandin said he had ploughed up four acres of cassava because of the low prices being offered: $5 per pound. “It nah mek sense… best you plough it back,” he said.

Mohan had also ploughed up about 2,500 pounds of nine months old cassava in his farm because of the low price and because he was not getting buyers. “So I just get frustrated, plough up everything and so is how come I plant the [banana] sucker,” he said. He said that while the ministry is urging farmers to grow more, when they do and gluts result, the money they get does not pay. “The food is always on the market but the price is not always there,” he said.
Bhagwandin said that despite the gluts, they still try to sell off their produce because they can’t dump it. He said that lots of times, they had to sell below the cost of production.

Banana plants affected by the Black Sigatoka disease at Davindra Bhagwandin’s farm at Ruby, East Bank Essequibo recently.

The high cost of inputs like fertilizers and insecticides are bugbears as well. And then there is the potholed road, flooding, and insects and diseases.
There is a lot of flooding and disease, Ganesh said when this newspaper spoke to him last month. At the time, he said, a fungus was attacking crops, causing the plants to “melt” and some got a “brown sick” while there was another that caused black spots to appear on the plant leaves. It is “more harassing more than insects right now,” he said. He said the cost of getting the drugs to treat the disease was high and no one seemed to know what the “brown sick” was. Farmers in the area also continue to see the Black Sigatoka disease that affects their plantain and banana plants. Twice, the National Agricultural Research Institute visited his farm and sprayed and also advised on the type of drug that should be used but this did not help, Bhagwandin said.  As for the insects, he said that the types of drugs used to combat these, the overseas buyers do not want.

A big issue
The road at Parika Back is a big issue. Persaud pointed out that when it was graded, the contractors “just throw some stuff” and in a short while the road was back to its potholed state. He said they were told that tenders were opened but they have not heard anything more. He also said that farmers face another problem with irrigation water as when rice farmers want water, the cash crop farmers cannot get it. He also said that the Water Users Association of Vergenoegen/ Naamryck is only doing partial cleaning at the front of Parika and not at the back. Persaud said farmers pay $1,500 per acre of land to the association yearly.
Meantime, Bhagwandin said there was no proper drainage with a major trench at Ruby not cleared in a long time and they have to drain water through the irrigation canal. “I get a lot of blows from the flooding,” Mohan also disclosed adding that the rains last month destroyed his crops and he is now trying to plant back.

With many farmers only concentrating on the local market, cabbage is a preferred crop. The greater portion of the Bhagwandin’s land, six acres, is used for growing cabbage and while the cost for the inputs for this crop are high, it pays off, he said. Ganesh has about 300 plants now and he said they are expensive to maintain. He said the imported variety affects the prices they get. “This village can supply the whole of Guyana with cabbage,” he said. A stable price is crucial, he added. He said the village can also supply the entire country with tomatoes but have to compete with those brought from Suriname and Brazil.

Farmers are adamant that they can produce for export. “We got good potential for export but as I said, the price,” Persaud said, adding that currently they are not motivated to produce for export. “The position we are in we can’t think to produce for export.”
“The people in here could grow a lot of things but is the market,” Bhagwandin offered. In planting more, they have to invest more but “we nah really get no kind ah help,” he said.
The farmers this newspaper spoke with are concentrating on the local market and while they said that they would welcome better prices and more stable markets, their experiences with exporting have not satisfied them. The local market is reasonable and “100% better because the people buy all the goods,” said Persaud. He accused the authorities of neglecting cash crop farmers. He said the farmers do not know yet how they could benefit from the new packaging facility at Parika.

`Too much of quality’
Bhagwandin said that for the moment, he has no intention of getting into the export market because they “want too much of quality… the people nah give you courage in here. They come in here and talk and check out all your crops and never come back.”
For Mohan: “Nobody never come in to me and talk about export and them thing.” He normally cultivates cassava, sweet potato, pepper and bora for the local market. Pointing to the fluctuations, he said that if he can get a stable overseas market with a reasonable price for his produce, he could expand. He said that once he knows what the requirements are and gets some help, he is willing to try.