Region 10 farmer supplies broccoli to Linden market

With the festive season in the air, a Region 10 (Upper Demerara-Berbice) farmer has begun supplying the community’s market with a rare vegetable commodity – broccoli.
Oswald Johnson, who has been a farmer for many years, is making a significant contribution to the Linden market and food economy with the vegetable which is slowly making its way into Guyana’s expanding food market.
Broccoli is considered a challenging crop to grow in these tropical soils, since it adapts to cooler temperatures; though it is said to be related to the cabbage family which is successfully grown here.
However, Johnson of the small riverine community of Dalawala, has taken up the challenge. The farmer, who grows a variety of other vegetables, sells his produce in wholesale quantities which he supplies to the Linden market.
He takes pride particularly in broccoli, which he notes, has been growing

intermittently for some time now. He related that while this venture is challenging, his largest customer is a popular supermarket in Linden.
Many are not too particularly keen on purchasing the vegetable, Johnson said, which is retailed at approximately $1000 to $1200 per pound. At this price, it is considered quite expensive for the average local shopper.
Owing to this, he said his wholesale market is not a vast one. “The local market here is slow. People don’t buy it in a large quantity,” he told Guyana Times.
Being a product which is mainly imported from overseas, the farmer added that many are also not too familiar with it. This makes his vision of expanding this product market a bit more challenging, so much so that he thinks about giving up.
“People ain’t really conscious about it and Linden in the whole ain’t really got money. Plenty people can’t really afford it at the price. Most people does hussle to buy lil boulanger, bora and ochro and those things that they can afford,” Johnson said.
According to the farmer, he was once a broccoli supplier to the capital city Georgetown, but he had faced similar challenges back then. The farmer admits that the fatigue of transporting the produce to Georgetown also took a toll on him which caused him to stop.
He said now with the renaissance of knowledge on consuming healthy foods, local people are now becoming more aware of broccoli. “But the bottom line is that not everybody has the money to buy it,” Johnson reiterated.
The farmer said this is somewhat discouraging but he has learned not to depend on farming just one produce.
Guyana Times spoke with a few vendors who purchase broccoli from Johnson. They noted that while they are happy that it is being produced on a local level, owing to the price the demand is somewhat low.
According to Johnson, some vendors are also reluctant to buy as much due to the lack of cold storage. Finding markets for his produce, he noted, is presently a slow process. Due to this, he said a lot of the broccoli he produces perishes.
Pointing to several other issues he faces as a farmer, Johnson said acquiring additional farmland to expand is a major issue.
Though he has a reasonably sized farm, Johnson said it is difficult to expand as he explained that an application he made for 10 acres of land is yet to receive a response. “I’m still waiting on Government…”, he said.
He added that farmers in the community have requested that space and a date be set aside by the relevant authorities to facilitate a farmers market but this is yet to come to fruition.
Johnson further noted that as a result, this leads to high market prices for vegetables and even exploitation by some vendors. The farmer said acquiring seeds and other necessities is also a challenge for him.
“I don’t get all the full supply of seeds and like certain insecticides and weedicides and so on,” he noted. Regardless, he said he will continue his trade as a farmer with the hopes that one day things will improve.