Better access from farm to market reduces middlemen price-hike – GS Jagdeo

-flags City Council for interfering with farmers selling at markets

Easier access to markets for produce such as fruits and vegetables can help to alleviate the high prices consumers face for these goods at selling points across the country.

This was the view shared by the General Secretary of the People’s Progressive Party, Dr Bharrat Jagdeo during his weekly press conference at Freedom House on Thursday.

Dr Jagdeo was responding to a question about transporters of goods hiking prices, causing end consumers to feel the brunt when purchasing items from community markets across the country.

“On the middlemen, I think if you have better transportation and faster transportation, and the farmers are better organised, they can cut out the middlemen,” the General Secretary said.

Also, Jagdeo referenced what appeared to be political mischief in restricting some farmers from selling at city markets.

“I’ve spoken to farmers from across the river who normally come to Georgetown to sell and the City Council runs them out because they want bribes and harasses them all the time. But they come directly with their produce, so their prices would be minus the margin that their middlemen would give them…we are trying to assist them,” he noted.

Regarding enhancing access to markets, the government has been ramping up infrastructure with the construction of farm-to-market access roads.

In 2022, hundreds of farmers began to benefit from a high-quality road at Number 58 Village, Corentyne, Region Six (East Berbice-Corentyne).

Not only did the road create better access but opened up some 50,000 acres of prime farmlands, presenting more opportunities for farmers in the region.

More recently, farmers in the Barima-Waini region witnessed the commissioning of a $44.1 million farm-to-market road.

The road, which spanned some 10 kilometres, connected the villages Arukamai, Wauna, Kamwatta, and White Water to the Kumaka Market, allowing farmers to directly sell their produce there.

Meanwhile, a $175 million road on the right bank of the Mahaicony Creek in Region Five (Mahaica-Berbice) and another farm-to-market road worth some $150 million on the left bank of the Mahaica Creek, Region Four (Demerara-Mahaica) are to be completed soon.

Notwithstanding this, Dr Jagdeo explained that farmers must also receive a fair share for their toil in the fields.

“Farmers also have to increase their income. Somehow people have this belief that we can raise all the salaries for everyone but the farmers who work in the fields, they have to keep their prices constant and cheap…as though they must take the hit every time,” he explained.

The general secretary said the government is also co-investing with the private sector to ensure a guaranteed market for farmers’ produce. This is evident in the recent co-investment with UMAMI’s new processing facility in Black Bush Polder.

These projects form part of the government’s agenda to transform the local agriculture sector, ensuring that Guyana becomes self-sustainable and contributing to the regional goal of reducing the food import bill by 25% by 2025.