IT is almost second nature for most Jamaicans to turn up their bargaining skills when shopping, but rural farmer Opal Jackson is appealing to buyers to stop “bawling down” the prices set by her colleagues, especially women farmers.

Jackson, who has been farming for more than 30 years, told the Jamaica Observer this is one of the biggest challenges with which she has had to contend.

“When the buyer dem come and dem see seh yuh a woman, dem would a want underpay you more than the man — so there is just a stigma with women,” said Jackson who is president of the Munro cluster of the Jamaica Network of Rural Women Producers (JNRWP). “So, in every way dem always waan carry down the woman price, although yuh do the same work [as male counterparts].

“If me know seh a dat deh price [it is going for], den a dat deh price it a guh fa — you just have to take a stand,” the St Elizabeth farmer insisted.

Jackson, who operates a seed farm for cabbage, carrot, sweet potato, Irish potato, lettuce and tomato, supplies individual buyers, other farmers, and farm stores with seedlings.

“Everything they want to take off and bawl down the price; sometimes me haffi tell dem seh when mi go a farm store dem nuh do dis. If you tell dem seh one tray of the lettuce is for $1,500, some of them want to give you $1,000 — come like dem waan gi yuh weh dem feel like,” she said, adding that she is usually firm in her approach and tries to reason with these buyers so they understand her position.

“Everyone work hard — whether male or female — so if I have a price, that’s my price. Don’t try carry it down, because everybody work to come up with whatever they have — especially when you have a family to provide for and bills to pay. Not because we a woman [means we are okay with one-sided bargaining] ,” the 48-year-old Jackson said.

Jamaica has about 230,000 registered farmers. According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, in Jamaica four per cent of landholders control 65 per cent of agricultural lands, while the remaining 96 per cent are mostly smallholder farmers. Eighty-nine per cent of the land is registered with male farmers.

Westmoreland farmer, 53-year-old Pam Robinson agreed that people are always trying to bargain for better prices, but she believes it is a challenge all farmers face, not just the women.

She has been been doing vegetable farming for several years.

“Farming don’t easy, and it takes a lot of money,” she said, adding that farmers are always on the “losing end”.

“There is always somebody there trying to carry down your price. Dem a tell yuh weh dem a pay first, before yuh tell dem your price,” she said.

Meanwhile, Dorothy Stewart told the Sunday Observer that she “stands out as a man”, so her experience with buyers has been different.

Stewart, who is a member of the New Works cluster of JNRWP in Westmoreland, has been farming since 2008. She raises poultry and does vegetable farming and cattle rearing.

“I don’t think I have that problem because I stand out as a man. Every work is the same work, every crop is the same crop, so I don’t think the man should collect more money than the woman so I stand out firm with my business,” she said, adding that farming is her business so she is very serious about it.

She suggested that some women farmers also have issues when hiring men to work for them.

“When they get the men to work, the men, like they want to penalise them, cut their work short, but I know the amount of work that I can get in a day so when you come to work don’t feel like you’re going to play. You are going to work, because I’m going to pay you your money,” Stewart said.

The agriculture sector in Jamaica is not only an important contributor to employment, but also to gross domestic product (GDP), foreign exchange earnings, food security, and the country’s rural development.

Trays of seedlings from Opal Jackson’s farm in St Elizabeth