A looming shortage of fruits and vegetables is expected to drive up condiment prices starting this week as farmers reel from the fallout associated with Hurricane Beryl.

Condiments from St Elizabeth, otherwise called the breadbasket of Jamaica, are expected to reflect the highest jump in prices since the parish was one of the most affected by the Category 4 Hurricane Beryl which which hit Jamaica on July 3.

Prices for condiments such as tomatoes, cabbage, lettuce, sweet potatoes, cucumber, melon, cantaloupe, sweet pepper, and scallion are expected to skyrocket, vendors pre-empted, in anticipation of how farmers may respond to the devastating blow from Hurricane Beryl.

“Right now market prices not bad — in fact, some of the prices drop because the vendors don’t want the things to spoil on them. But come next week when the stock that we have finish, it a guh be trouble,” Jeffery, the owner of a fruits and vegetables stall in Coronation Market, downtown Kingston, told the Jamaica Observer.

Vendors were out in large numbers on Friday attempting to offload inventory they had purchased weeks before the storm.

In the days leading up to Hurricane Beryl Jamaicans flocked to supermarkets and markets to stock up on goods, in preparation for any eventualities. However since then, business has slowed dramatically, particularly in markets and meat marts, as many households avoid perishable items due to disruptions in electricity supply.

That has led to vendors like Martin discarding bags of ground provisions due to spoilage.

“Since morning a two bags of pumpkin mi haffi throw away — si them deh right de suh,” he said, pointing to the items that were mostly mush due to what appeared to be excess water in the fruit.

Preliminary estimates coming from Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries are that Hurricane Beryl has destroyed over $1 billion in food crops and supporting infrastructure.

Agriculture Minister Floyd Green has indicated that there is significant damage to crops including vegetables, tubers such as yam and cassava, and fruits like breadfruit, ackee, mangoes and bananas, some of which were blown down by winds associated with the Category 4 hurricane.

The livestock and fishing sectors were also impacted significantly by the record-breaking storm that unleashed tumultuous winds and rainfall as it travelled westward just off Jamaica’s south coast last week, en route to the Cayman Islands, Mexico, and Texas.

While farmers who grow crops in greenhouses in the parishes of Clarendon, Manchester and St Elizabeth have been hard-hit, there are high hopes that crops coming from the northern side of the island will not be significantly impacted by the price changes.

“Some of the parishes weren’t as badly affected by the rain so, for example, my pepper comes from St Ann so my supplier don’t say anything about no price increase as yet,” Princess, who is also a vendor in Coronation Market, told Sunday Finance.

Still, Princess is concerned.

She said that with troughs lingering near the island, it could worsen the impact on farmers across the country.

“We still have more trough out there, we still have more rain to get. Plus, we are in the hurricane season…,” the vendor said.

Jamaica Agricultural Society (JAS ) President Lenworth Fulton, while confirming that Hurricane Beryl’s pummelling will result in food shortages and reduce Jamaica’s agro-processing and value-added capacity over the short term, said some vegetable farmers have already returned to the fields and as such, food items should become readily available again within the next 12 weeks.