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‘Move me & I’ll sell in the middle of the road!’ – prominent farmer
“I don’t want anything to do with there. The thing is that they are calling it the ‘local’, you hear the word? Local! I know for a fact that a lot of those vendors selling out there are importing food from St Vincent and other islands and that’s not local, what we grow here is local. Our produce must have a proper representation and that’s not the case at that market so I want nothing to do with that. If they crazy enough to come move me from where I am selling my thing I am going to sell in the middle of the road,” said a prominent local farmer.
Another farmer said that being amongst the persons who sell the imported produce is casting a bad shadow over the locally produced food. “What you have happening is that imported food spoils very fast and I am tired of hearing customers telling me that the stuff they buy spoiling fast and guess what they saying? Them local food, they not saying the imported food they saying them locals and that is casting a bad spell on our stuff because it’s the imported things they purchasing and being disappointed. So like Ms Fahie I am not going to be in the mix. I’ll continue as I am doing to sell my things separately so people could identify with the true BVI grown food which is fresh, tasty and long lasting. That’s my stand.”
'We want to clean up market area'- Christopher
Speaking with this news site yesterday morning, March 11, 2015 Director of Trade and Consumers’ Affairs Ms Karia J. Christopher said they have taken a number of initiatives into consideration and will be embarking on them to have the city be one that is more friendly to the eye and at the same time promote a more organised situation around the town.
“It is important to have the city reflecting a place that is serious about Local, Regional and International Investments and in that regards we have instilled some rules and some letters went out instigating some rules and regulations which most of the businesses in the common area or in sense we have asked persons not to sell anything, clothing, shoes, outside of the stores that they would have been given to sell for. Once you have a Trade License it is very specific in terms of where you should sell. So we sent letters to persons who have these infractions, asking them or actually telling them that they cannot now sell any clothes outside of their stores or any shoes outside of their stores. On that same trend, we want to clean up the market area which has been a little bit of an eye sore to say the least.”
In a recent story carried by this news site, several local farmers had complained of not having a proper place, or any place in fact, to sell their produce since they had complained that they were removed from the market square by the City Department.
Vendors 'pushed back'
But according to Mrs Christopher, “I'm telling you it was us, the Department of Trade and Consumer Affairs. The Department of Trade and Consumer Affairs went door to door to the vendors that were on the side walk and asked and we pushed them back from being on the perimeter of the side walk because of course it was a hazard to the traffic and congestion and really physically it was not something that was pleasant to see. I would add here that we had asked the City Manager to accompany us in the regard in which she did so I don’t want to say that she didn't have any part in it. She accompanied us in this and we managed to push them back.”
She further explained, “But that is not enough to be able to say that area is clean so what the Department of Trade has done is that they are undertaking a revitalisation of the market square and we spent some amount of funds repainting it and we have just begun to have it almost completed. And so on Friday we are going to have a re-launching of the market, officially reopening the market in the way that we want it to look and so we purchased tents for the vendors.”
According to Mrs Christopher, only the approved vendors who were there before are allowed to get tents based on where they place them as they have made the market itself physically more pleasing.
“We've installed stands, we've repainted it, we've finished it and we're inviting the other vendors on the street, once they've been invited, now to be permanently located in the market.”
See links to related stories:
http://www.virginislandsnewsonline.com/en/news/agriculture-department-wants-to-stifle-us-farmers
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39 Responses to “‘Move me & I’ll sell in the middle of the road!’ – prominent farmer”
Please act educated and sensible!! Lead by example. You want to be respected in your trade, then respect the people who need to keep our streets looking like a tourist destination! It's time for you all to act sensible in this country. Too many people running around lawless! And at this point it doesn't matter where you are from. You want to show you good at what you do, then show respect if you want business!
What about the food vans??? Popping up all over?????
1.Produce from anywhere, grown under any condition, sold by anyone anywhere on BVI streets, in the guise of local.
2.people from anywhere blocking off prime land to sell produce from anywhere.
3.a permanent secretary who dabbing in accountancy and importing giant snake pets.
4.a clueless government who don't care what infested produce, dirt from other countries, and non native snakes and animals can do to local agriculture and public health and safety?
5.no trade license needed for people selling produce on street, But go pay rent and open a shop government every minute harassing you about hand washing facilities, proper storage of food, and exterminating RATS.
You are right. No issues there!
Government should look into zoning as a tool to help curb detrimental activity, and even help with kinds of buildings, parking zones etc.
We need to restore order and discipline in our country!