TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO: Small Businessmen Glad to See End of '94
PORT OF SPAIN, Dic 30 (IPS) - Bankers and politicians are beaming their pleasure at the performance of the Trinidad and Tobago economy this year but for small farmers and businessmen, 1994 is a year best forgotten.
Floods, high prices, plant diseases and trade liberalisation leading to increased competition from cheaper food sources abroad have all played a part in making 1994 a year of hell for small farmers and retailers.
Joseph Arietas, a 51 year old farmer from the northern hills of Maraval described 1994 as disastrous.
"I plant two crops and buss right through," he said.
Arietas complained that his cabbage crop failed because he could not afford pesticides.
'Dougs', another farmer, said growers were suffering because they did not have the capital to invest in farming and also because of importation of competing goods. He said so far a delegation of farmers from the Maraval area had gone to the National Food Farmers Association to try to stop cabbage and tomato imports, but were unsuccessful.
Retailers and vegetable vendors in the bustling new development of Chaguanas in central Trinidad say they too have not had a happy 1994.
Sales have been falling and the traditional big spending Christmas period did not bring in the level of business expected, say vendors in the Chaguanas market. They expect that business will remain bad in 1995.
"These are bad times for vendors. We are experiencing difficlut times out here and we cannot do anything more," says Shakon Chattagoon, a vegetable vendor in the market.
Chattagoon blames the slow vegetable sales on the floods in central Trinidad during the 1994 rainy season. The floods destroyed thousands of dollars worth of agricultural produce sending market wholesale prices soaring. Retailers, having bought the goods at high prices passed on those costs to consumers, who decided to do without rather than pay the high rates.
Tomatoes, for instance, rose in wholesale price from 43 cents to 86 cents per pound but were retailed at between 1.40 and 1.75 per pound.
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