The National Agricultural Marketing and Development Corporation (Namdevco) has said part of the reason for the scarcity of sorrel for Christmas 2021 was that the harvest was late.
It said farmers are expecting to continue harvesting until early February.
CEO Nirmala Debysingh-Persad said the organisation did a three-month projection based on the farms it monitors.
“The harvest is not full right now, as we would have expected around this month, but farmers are expecting to continue harvesting into January, perhaps the beginning of February.
"We had a later harvest than normal. This is an effect of climate change on production.”
Kumar Seepersad, a sorrel vendor at the Maritime Roundabout in Barataria, said part of the problem was that farmers did not plant as much this year because the vendors encountered difficulties in 2020, one reason for which was corporation police.
“Almost 30 years that we’re out here selling sorrel. Now the corporation from last year, they begin to run us from here. When they begin to run us, the sales slowed down, and we had to carry the goods back to the farmers.
“We ran into a loss last year because of the corporation police intervention – but the other police does come and buy. It have people from all walks of life, billionaire people does come here and buy, people from all over the country. It’s the only place that you does get sorrel in abundance.
[caption id="attachment_931374" align="alignnone" width="1024"] A vendor pours sorrel onto a table for sale at the roundabout near Maritime Plaza, Barataria on Thursday. - ROGER JACOB[/caption]
"So after that, because of the intervention, the farmers didn’t plant no big amount, because last year they got blows.”
Another vendor, Andy, said there wasn’t really a shortage but the presence of the police was causing some trouble.
“Because of the extra policing preventing crowds, people can’t come to get their sorrel.”
Agricultural Society (ASTT) vice president Devica Sookoo said she had not seen a lot of sorrel in the markets she visited.
“I have not seen sorrel plentiful or abundant in the market this year compared to what we’ve seen in previous years, so I’m not sure if there’s a shortage of the seeds, or the availability of the seeds. I attended the Chaguanas retail market on Thursday and I saw a very limited supply of sorrel, and whoever had it, it was very costly. Normally we used to see three pounds for $25 on the highway, now it's two pounds for $25. As a farmer myself I would have sold three pounds for $25, two for $20 in years gone by.”
By contrast, many people have commented on the availability of mangoes, as the trees do not normally bear at this time of year.
Agriculture Minister Clarence Rambharat said this is based on weather factors.
“In time of excessive heat, trees may flower in response to the 'stress.' The mixture of sun and rain also provides the ideal conditions for some trees, like cocoa, to have a second period of flowering.
"A lot of what we are seeing is related to changing climatic condit
