Frustrated farmer plans to burn tomato crop amid losses

Last Thursday -- a day when farmers are usually busy harvesting crops for the market -- a St Elizabeth farmer stood in her field, contemplating whether to burn hundreds of pounds of ripening tomato rather than pick them.

The farmer told THE STAR that she was facing the painful reality of watching her produce rot in the fields. She said the islandwide glut has driven tomato prices so low that harvesting the crop now makes no financial sense. Instead of continuing to pick, she says she plans to chemically burn the plants and start over.

"Mi a guh just burn off," she said matter-of-factly. "Other farmers near me do it already, so mi ago do it. That only make sense."

For the farmer, the decision is heartbreaking. The crop represents months of labour and thousands of dollars in investment.

"You have to pick about 1,000 pounds just to make certain money, and then when you go sell it for $20 a pound it still nuh pretty," she said.

The crushing glut comes after she had already fought to rebuild following Hurricane Melissa, which destroyed her previous crop last October.

"At the time the tomato trees had just started to blossom and the hurricane wipe out everything," she recalled.

But instead of giving up, she quickly started again.

"I didn't let it break me. I got back seeds and the Friday after, I replanted," she recalled.

"I planted 3,000 suckers. I looked after them, and now I have to reap, but there is a surplus and dem naah move," she said.

Tomatoes are being sold in the markets for as low as $50 per pound, one of the lowest price in years. To manage the glut the government, through the Rural Agriculture Development Authority (RADA), has organised a series of farmers markets to bring the produce closer to consumers. For the St Elizabeth farmer, however, the impact of the glut in heart-wrenching. She revealed that she spent more than $30,000 monthly to maintain her farm, and is yet to recover her investment.

"I haven't made that back. I don't even think I make $15,000 since I start pick. The first pick was $20 a pound, then $15, then $10, now I hear it's $5," she said.

At the current price, she shared that harvesting the crop makes no sense.

"Five dollars? I don't even bother to pick any. It's just me alone to pick and pack, then sell for $5? That don't make sense."