Georgetown vendors and shoppers say sharp increases in the wholesale prices of vegetables and greens are forcing them to reduce purchases, shrink their businesses and alter family meals as the cost of everyday greens continues to climb.
At Bourda Market, vendor Mohanram Singh, who has been selling there for the past 10 years after growing up in the business at Stabroek Market, said prices for several vegetables have risen dramatically over recent months, leaving both vendors and customers under pressure.
Singh said a bag of boulanger that previously cost between $6,000 and $8,000 is now selling wholesale for about $13,000. He said he sources greens from Berbice, the East Coast Demerara, Parika and communities along the highway, but rising wholesale costs and spoilage have made it increasingly difficult to earn a profit.
According to Singh, cabbage has climbed to about $600 per pound from between $260 and $300 previously, while the wholesale price for eschallot has tripled from around $500 to $1,500 per pound. Celery has also increased significantly, moving from between $2,500 and $3,000 per pound to as much as $5,000.
Despite the higher costs, Singh said he is trying to support customers where possible by offering small extras with purchases. “I would sell three small boulangers for $500 and give them a top-up just to encourage them to come and buy,” he shared with Kiskadee Watch recently.
However, he acknowledged that business has slowed considerably. “We have to try. A lot of people are posting what is happening on the market on social media, so customers understand. But we doing way less business now; it’s shortening every day,” Singh said.
The higher prices are also changing how families prepare meals. Shopper Sureya Howard said she purchases greens every week but has found it increasingly difficult to keep up with the rising prices.
Boulanger, she said, is now selling for about three for $1,000 depending on size, while bora costs about two small bundles for $500.
With three children of her own and an extended household that includes her mother, sister and several nieces and nephews, Howard said the family has been forced to stretch meals.
“We have to mix the greens with potatoes and eddoes and we use a lot of macaroni, chowmein and peas. How we get the greens is how we cook,” she said.
At Kitty Market, vendor Annette Singh, who has been in business for 33 years, said resellers have little choice but to pass on higher wholesale prices to customers. “When you have to resell, people busing you all kinds of things,” she said.
She explained that calaloo is now purchased at three small bundles for $500 wholesale, forcing vendors to sell only two bundles for the same price to make a profit. Similarly, boulanger is bought at four for $1,000 and resold at three for that amount.
She said cabbage now costs about $500 per pound, ochroes $400 per pound, corilla $500 per pound, sweet pepper $2,000 per pound and a single squash about $600. These are just the wholesale prices.
“We still have to buy it because we still have the public to serve,” she said. However, she admitted that both customers and vendors are purchasing less than before. “Everybody might not be able to buy as they used to and I also don’t buy as much as before. I had a big stand but cut it down to a little baby one right now,” she said.
Stabroek Market vendor Onica Lawrence, 51, said there is little vendors can do other than adapt to the changing market conditions. “We can’t do nothing; we have to go with it,” she said.
Lawrence now sells a pack of carrots for $600 and a piece of pumpkin for $1,000. “I choose to focus on the positives and to be thankful to God for small mercies. Some day good, some day bad. We can’t do nothing,” she said.
Meanwhile, 26-year-old shopper Alicia Smartt said the rising cost of vegetables has made it difficult for her to adequately provide for her three-year-old son. “When I go to the market, I can’t afford even a half of a cabbage,” she said.
She noted that a bundle of bora now costs about $500 and said she has largely stopped buying greens because of the prices. “I started planting and have been benefiting from that. I plant bora, tomato and calaloo,” she shared.
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