ONE week after wreaking multibillion-dollar damage on her romp across the country, Hurricane Sandy is being blamed for what vendors say is an alarming increase in the prices of most agricultural produce.

Checks by the Sunday Observer at two of Kingston and St Andrew’s busiest fresh foods markets revealed that consumers are being asked to dig deeper into their pockets to purchase fruits and vegetables, and there are indications that the prices will continue to climb in coming weeks due to scarcities stemming from the impact of the hurricane.

Up to last Friday, agriculture ministry personnel were finetuning their islandwide estimate of total damage to the sector.

Based on preliminary information presented to parliament by Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller, the sector sustained damage amounting to $1.5 billion.

Last week, officials of the ministry also indicated that damage to the agricultural sector was most severe in Portland, St Thomas and St Mary, the three eastern most parishes.

Despite these parishes sustaining most of the damage, vendors at both the busy Coronation market in downtown Kingston and the Papine market in St Andrew have indicated that produce from across the country has been hit by price hikes. They believe that some farmers are capitalising on the fact that certain produce is in short supply as a result of hurricane damage.

Vendors who travel to the downtown Kingston landmark to purchase produce are upset at this, as they claim they will have difficulties selling the items to their customers.

“Everybody tek the opportunity to ride the price,” said one vendor as she detailed some of the items that have been hit by price adjustments.

Another listed plantains, bananas, dasheens, peppers, cabbage and carrots among the items which have gone up by more than 100 per cent in some cases.

“Sweet pepper move from $80 a pound to $160 and hot pepper gone up to $200 a pound from $80. Even cho cho gone up. Is $100 fi three now,” said a vendor who identified herself as Maureen.

She explained that many crops such as peppers were destroyed in the hurricane and as a result farmers who still have the produce have moved to hike their prices in response to the rush on their farms.

One elderly male vendor who said he travelled from Guys Hill in St Catherine to the Coronation market explained that the price of the ripe bananas he had on sale moved from a farm gate price of $80 per dozen. “We use to buy the banana for 80 dollar a dozen but now it gone to $120 and we have to sell it fi a profit,” said Mr Davis who indicated that he now sells a dozen bananas for anywhere between $150 – $200 per dozen, depending on the size of the fruits.

The hikes have infuriated and frustrated several consumers who spoke with the Sunday Observer at the Coronation market on Friday while on their regular shopping trips.

An elderly man who was seen roving with his market bag complained that his food bill had gone up.

“Ah used to spend $1000 dollars at the market, but based on what ah seeing today mi going to spend $1,500 fi the same things,” he argued.

Another woman who said she had travelled from Hart Hill in Portland to purchase produce told the Sunday Observer that she had to search for good prices, as her plans were to return to Portland to sell them.

For her, while the price of most items have gone up, others, such as yams, escallion and pumpkins remained within a reasonable price range.

“Even yam up and down, tomato up and down. Some place tomato a’ $60, some place $50, that nuh bad. Sweet potato, some place have it for $50, some $60, and some $70. Escallion not so bad, but cabbage up to all $80 a pound,” she complained.

The situation was similar at the Papine market in St Andrew where the prices of most items were even higher than at the Coronation market.

“Everything gone up, tomato, carrot, banana, even pepper gone up. The storm really affect the price of things. We use to get carrot for $60 a pound, now it gone up to $100 and $120,” said Lois, who said she travelled from Dallas Castle in St Andrew to the Papine market.

As she spoke with the Observer, the dejected vendor pointed to a half bunch of bananas on the stem which she said had been purchased at the Coronation market for $700.

According to her, this item was being sold for $400 before the passage of the hurricane.

For most of the vendors who spoke with the Observer, the situation could get worse before it gets better, as some of the produce now being sold was salvaged from hurricane-ravaged farms.

They added that they will have to do more travelling to purchase produce and indicated that this will also contribute to a further hike in prices in coming weeks.

For Davis, the banana vendor from Guy’s Hill, St Catherine, the price of the staple will continue to climb as a result of the widespread devastation of plantain and banana plantations in St Mary, St Thomas and Portland which produce most of these fruits for local consumption.

His sentiments are being echoed by president of the Jamaica Agricultural Society, Senator Norman Grant, who explained that the total damage to the sector could climb to more than $2 billion, as more than 60,000 farmers across the country have sustained losses according to early estimates.

Regarding the sharp increase in fresh fruit and vegetable prices, Grant is calling on consumers to be vigilant about potential price-gouging, particularly by middlemen who purchase goods from farmers for sale to market vendors.

However, he maintains that some upward adjustment is inevitable as the price of agricultural produce is influenced by the basic principles governing demand and supply.

Against this background, the JAS president says consumers should continue to support the country’s farmers as they try to rebound from the disaster.

He is also rejecting suggestions that the Government will have to resort to importing additional produce in light of the setback suffered by farmers.

According to Grant, some farmers are already clearing their fields and should have produce such as red peas by Christmas.