Hanoman Ramsaroop is a farmer ‘to the bone.’ On Fridays he makes his way to the Anna Regina Market to sell the vegetables cultivated on his farm situated off the Capoey access road. He spends the entire trading day at the market…roughly from 5:00hrs to 14:00hrs daily. It is the only respite that he gets from farming, which has been his preoccupation for the past 33 years.
Hanoman is not bashful about ‘talking up’ his produce. He believes that where quality is concerned his customers never get anything less than a good deal. He insists that his boulanger, tomato, bora, pepper and cabbage, among other crops cultivated on his two-acre farm benefit from expert attention. His cultivation pattern ensures that on any given day he can offer fresh supplies of a range of vegetables sufficient to meet the needs of both his wholesale and retail customers. Quality, he says, is the competitive edge that has enabled an impressive rate of customer retention among customers who come from as far away as Moruca and the Pomeroon.
Ramsaroop mentions, almost incidentally, that he is also a rice farmer. The demise of the Petro Caribe Agreement that afforded rice cultivated in the Essequibo Coast access to a lucrative Venezuelan market has meant that the crop is nowhere near as talked-about in the community as it used to be.
