SOME vendors  at the Coronation Market in West Kingston are feeling the severe effects of the drought, which many say has affected the quality and quantity of their goods.

“The price get higher, the things are not so wonderful anymore,” said Jean Morgan, who has been selling in the market for over 20 years.

She explained that the tomatoes which she sells tend to be brown at the bottom because of the lack of water.

Morgan went on to say that the farmers had hiked the price of the produce because they now have to buy water from the trucks for their greenhouses which are expensive to maintain. However, she stated that the drip irrigation system used by the farmers cannot properly supply the roots with the water that is needed for proper growth.

“I don’t know what we are going to do… if it last throughout the rest of the month, it’s going to be dangerous,” Morgan said.

Another vendor, Paulette Bennett, whose goods include sweet potatoes, carrots, pak choi and tomatoes, said that the drought has cut the supply of produce she can offer, especially her tomatoes as they have withered in the heat.

“Sometimes when water come a di pipe, we full up some bottles and carry dem and tip likkle a di root dem”, she said when asked how she supplied water for her produce.

Because of the drought, Bennett said that she can no longer plant certain crops such as tomatoes, red peas and sorrel as they need a daily supply of water which she cannot provide.

    She said that because the farmers have increased prices on goods, vendors in turn have to increase the  prices as well, pointing out that tomatoes are being sold at some stalls for $100 and $150 a pound.

“When we buy it from dem, we haffi pay truck to bring it in, pay handcart, pay market fee, and each time you go to the bathroom yu have to pay $40 to use the toilets and $50 to bathe,” said Bennett.

As to how customers reacted to the increase in prices, Bennett said that instead of buying their usual three pounds of ground provisions, they will buy just a pound or two pounds at most.

However, Bennett said that not all crops have seen an increase in price as that for her sweet potatoes has not changed because of the glut of the crop in Manchester where her supplier is from.

“Yu haffi say a di same ting cuz we get it reasonable from di farmer…..me get it fi like $25 a pound, so me sell it like $40 and drop it down to $30 and if somebody come and have di $25, me sell it fi 25,” Bennett said.

However, a male vendor who sells escallion saw the drought as a income earner because of the scarcity of the crops. He said that the drought didn’t affect him as he was from Kingston and that because of the scarcity of the goods he had to increase his prices. He now sells escallion which was previously $20 a pound, for as much as $120 a pound and thyme goes for $400 a pound.

His female neighbour who also sells escallion, was quick to point out that a crop such as escallion was low in quality as “one and two a dem will come green” but the majority will look dry which in turn makes prospective customers hesitant to buy them. She also stated that some vendors from the rural parishes, who usually sell their crops at Coronation Market are no longer doing so because “they don’t have nuh load fi come and nuttin not down there.”

Despite all this, pumpkin vendor Kevon Jess said that while the drought affects the amount of pumpkins he is able to get, he will not let it stop him from going to the market and selling what he has.

“I still have to get things going, because this is my employment,” Jess said, while highlighting that although he grows his own pumpkins, because of the lack of water in his home parish of Clarendon, he is not able to reap what he used to.

Jess said that he now has to source pumpkins from Linstead to help make up what he is able to offer at the market.

In the case of watermelon and lettuce, vendor Steve Williams said that the drought has had positive and negative effects.

“The rain nah fall, so everyting go up,” Williams said, while explaining that some customers did not understand why his melons had been priced the way they were.

“Dem feel like yu a tief dem, melon is like Irish, yu have first, second and third class melon, when people go buy a third class melon and sell it fi $30, we who buy the first class melon dem have to buy it like $50 a pound,” said Williams, while stating that he will sell a whole watermelon for $60.

Williams also said that the drought has helped customers, in that prices of crops such as lettuce have been reduced due to the glut of the product on the market.

“When the time dry, lettuce bear more, it last longer… when rain falls it fits too quickly and as such rots even faster”, he said, while telling the Sunday Observer that the price for lettuce had decreased from $300 to $100 within two weeks.

Another vendor, who in response to apparent complaints from customers, told the Sunday Observer that “there is no water why the things dem look like this”.

“Sweet peppers are a bit soft and the heat mek dem look withered, but nothing is wrong with it, it’s durable, it not going to spoil,” said the vendor who asked not to be named.

Not all customers were complaining about the quality and quantity of the produce, as Ainsley James and Pauline said that they understand that the drought would have caused vendors to increase the price of their goods.

“We nuh have nuh irrigation system so the water system wicked, because the farmer can’t do any better. It’s a high cost to farm the food,” James commented.

Pauline said that the vendors don’t have a choice and that although it affects her budget, she has to buy because her body needs it.

“Yu just have to see how far yu can go to find the cheapest price, even if it’s by a 10 or five dollars,” James said.