Sorrel scarce this Christmas

The lack of sorrel has been noticeable, except for the two trucks at the Barataria roundabout a few weeks ago. Because of the scarcity, the search is on for the lovely red flower to make the tangy Christmas sorrel drink and liqueur.

One farmer told Newsday that sorrel trees were being attacked by insects, but Naitram Ramnanan, marketing and research officer at the National Agricultural Marketing and Development Company (Namdevco), told Newsday that he had received no such reports. He said the lack of sorrel could be blamed on the adverse wet weather conditions in the country during the year.

He said sorrel takes at least three months to mature and flower, and would usually be planted in July/August. However, he observed that those months this year were very wet, with flooding in some parts. Ramnanan believes that the trees may have been destroyed, or farmers may have been unable to plant the trees in those conditions. As a result, there will not be an abundance of sorrel this Christmas.

The lack of sorrel will not, however, be reflected in the prices.

Ramnanan said two weeks ago he saw sorrel being sold for $10 for five pounds on the Churchill Roosevelt Highway, and only yesterday one farmer was selling the much wanted commodity at $3 a pound in Debe. He said those were usual prices.

Ramnanan said you can expect to see sorrel in large quantities in January and February.

Pigeon peas, he said, will also be scarce this holiday due to the weather. He said besides the weather, pigeon peas and sorrel were labour intensive crops and farmers have complained about a lack of labour.

He added that pigeon peas will be more readily available in the next two months. It is now being sold at the wholesale price of $16.50 a kilogramme, compared to $14.74 per kilogramme last year.