During the first week of October 2022, the Extension and Advisory Services Division through its technical staff, conducted a vegetable damage assessment survey in Agricultural Region Two.
The main objective of the survey was to determine the impact of excessive rainfall in September on farmers’ vegetable cultivation.
The findings from the survey respondents indicated that the impact of excessive rainfall in September on farmers’ vegetable cultivation is as follows:
Increased incidence of pests and diseases which resulted in 80% to 100% losses of carrots, cucumbers, watermelons and peanuts, and between 50% to 70% losses of tomatoes, cabbages and sweet peppers respectively;
High incidences of blossoms drop which was reflected in low fruit sets;
Poor growth and development of fruits and root vegetables due to excessive nutrients leaching and reduced sunlight (photosynthesis);
Farmers unable to prepare lands for new planting, and perform essential cultural practices such as weed control, pest and disease control, harvesting and fertilizer applications;
The monetary losses reported range between $1000 to $10000;
Extremely fast rate of growth of broad and narrow leaf weeds;
High rate of unemployment of farmers and farm workers;
70% to 80% of farmers inability to supply their main buyers and
100% of tomato farmers harvested fruits at the green stage to avoid split fruits.
In conclusion, it is forecasted that over the coming months that there will be a shortage of carrots, cucumbers, watermelons, pumpkins, sweet peppers, tomatoes and peanuts from the region which will have an impact on national supply.
Therefore, if the rainfall does not reduce significantly for October, then supply will decrease over the coming months. Consequently, demand will increase and prices will go up. Thus, in an effort to stabilize prices, imports will increase to meet local demand. Also, affected farmers will be in a difficult financial situation and will require support to get back into production.
The assessment was carried out by Agricultural Officer, Mr Donawa Jackson and his technical team, Miss Shamika Grant, Miss Shafika Andrews, Mr Alston Lynch, Mr Dwayne McKenzie and technical Aides Farmers. Interviews were selected randomly from among the major vegetable producers from Majorca, Forty Acre, Mt. Pleasant, Evesham, Riley, Water house, Green Hill, Fenton, Calder, Akers, Farm, Dauphine and Montreal.
