Farmers fear COVID-19 hardship
Farmers are worried that they will suffer great financial losses as a result of the dreaded COVID-19, which has, so far, been detected in 15 persons on the island.
The farmers, while understanding the move by the Government to ban public gatherings and close the Coronation Market in downtown Kingston for sanitisation, fear that a lot of their produce will stay in the fields and rot.
"It a guh affect me big time," Fitzroy, 45, of Murray Mountain, St Ann, said. "Cabbage and lettuce perishable, suh it's not like me can save them fi later. All of this is very disappointing, but we affi just wait and hope seh if anything, God will open a next door."
Authorities have been encouraging people to practise social distancing, which means reducing close contact between people and avoiding crowded spaces.
FEWER CUSTOMERS
Many persons have been exercising the options of working from home, and in some instances, are consuming non-perishable goods purchased during a mad shopping rush last week. It is for this reason that farmers like Fitzroy feel that many buyers will not be returning to the marketplace anytime soon out of fear that they might contract COVID-19.
The Coronation Market is slated to be reopened tomorrow. Leon Martin is hoping that the authorities quickly get the virus under control so he can move on with his life.
"Right now me just affi wait until the market open back," said Martin, who claims that a lot of his produced have been spoiling in the fields. He lamented that the prices for many ground provisions have been low in recent weeks, and with the coronavirus threat now real, their inability to attract buyers may make the lives of farmers even more miserable.
There are also fears that the closure of many businesses, some of them restaurants, could mean lower demand for farm produce, which could, in turn, threaten the livelihood of farmers.