Veggie prices up for Christmas

This has caused an overall shortfall of between 30 to 80 percent in harvests for the month of November and part of December. Namdevco made the observation in its monthly bulletin, GreenVine, which analyses the situation and outlook for agri-food in Trinidad and Tobago.

The GreenVine revealed that there was an average of approximately 62 percent shortfall of the expected yields.

According to Namdevco, the losses would impact on the already high prices for agri-foods.

It noted that the prices of fresh fruits and vegetables are highest in December as a result of increased demands during Christmas and New Year celebrations.

"This year, the heavy rains and subsequent flooding in November destroyed a significant amount of crops that were targetted at the lucrative Christmas market, stated Namdevco.

"Imports may fill the shortfall of some commodities. However, the high winter prices in supplying countries would not result in significantly lower prices for imported products," said Nam-devco, which plans to propose mechanisms to monitor the flooding situation to the Ministry of Agriculture.