Agriculture Minister Clarence Rambharat says there are “cartels” operating within farmers’ markets across the country, controlling who can sell in the government facilities.
Rambharat was addressing attendees at the sod-turning ceremony for 120-car car park at the Southern Wholesale Market, Debe yesterday. He said the new car park will help to alleviate problems for space at the facility and will be constructed over a five-month period on 60,000 square feet of land just outside of the market.
Speaking to the media after the ceremony, he said, “One of the issues we encountered at markets across Trinidad, including Debe and Macoya, is the existence of people who want to control the space—in the case of Macoya for example - in terms of who gets the most prominent positions, the ones who are by the gates when the customers come in—the first spot that they (customers) will encounter.”
He said there are also safety and security issues at the Southern Wholesale market which he hopes will be remedied in the near future.
“In Debe, because we have an issue with safety and security and the space is cramped, there are those who want to control the space and decide who is going to occupy and who is not going to occupy— it is a problem that I know has existed for a long time—I have received complaints from the farmers and the vendors and the idea now is to expand the space that is available by removing the car parking from the vending space and putting it into a car park we will make more space available.”
Rambharat said whatever money is spent to beef up security at the facility will be well spent.
“I think by having more space available for anyone who wants to vend—we would reduce some of the pressures, we would also be able to monitor, we would also be able to take control and have the facility secure not only from a food safety point of view but also from a vendor and customer point of view.”