Food Prices Surge Over Six Percent in Belize, Supply Issues Blamed

If you’ve recently bought groceries, you may have noticed that the prices for many commodities including fruits and vegetables are notably higher than last year. In fact, the Statistical Institute of Belize says that food and non-alcoholic beverages in May 2024 cost more than six percent more than last year. Among the larger price increases were items such as cabbage by the pound which went up over sixty-seven percent from a dollar and fifty-seven cents to two dollars and sixty-two cents. Red kidney beans were up by more than 30 percent from a dollar and ninety-six cents to two dollars and sixty cents, while habanero peppers were up by more than 28 percent from four dollars and twenty-five cents to five dollars and forty-seven cents. But what is causing the price increases? Andrew Mejia, Acting Extension Director for the Ministry of Agriculture, Food Security and Enterprise, says the issue boils down to limited supply. 

Andrew Mejia, Acting Director of Extension, MOAFSE: “The country is coming out of an extremely dry spell that we faced during the months of March, April, May, and all the way up to June. And these conditions created an environment unsuitable for the production of these commodities and this year was no exception. Actually, we hit several record highs this year and it caused a huge disruption in the production of these commodities. Now what that did is that the amount that they were to harvest to supply the country between these months fell short. So as we may all know when there’s a shortage prices tend to go up. The Ministry of Agriculture has been looking into this for a while now trying to see how we can remedy the situation but it’s something that is still on the drawing board and it’s something that the Ministry is looking after. Because some of the prices this year that we saw increase this year is unprecedented and it’s something that we haven’t seen in the Ministry of Agriculture for many years. So it’s something that we will have to address in the near future.”

Mejia added that there are currently no interventions in place to assist farmers, but the Ministry’s technical team has been looking into measures that can assist with improving yields

Andrew Mejia, Acting Director of Extension, MOAFSE: “At the current moment, the farmers are at the mercy of the climatic conditions that they faced. But one of the initiatives that the ministry is looking at this time is the increase in the production of vegetables and the protective structures. We recently conducted a survey and we found out that we have quite substantial amount of protective structures in the country. So it’s just a matter of our officers getting out there and talking to these farmers to ensure that they are willing and they are capable of producing these commodities and these structures. Because once that is done the shortfall won’t be as much as we’re seeing now. Because the prices are up because of the shortfall that’s in the country. Another solution my ministry is looking at is to look at the the yields, the yields at this moment where our extension officers continue to work with the farmers to ensure that even if they have limited amount of these vegetables in the fields they can still harvest a substantial amount to avoid the short fall that we’re facing now. So there are several initiatives that the ministry is looking at. And we’re hoping that, because let me say that the price control is beyond the scope of the ministry, that’s beyond our scope. We don’t control the prices for these commodities. But what we can do is to ensure that there is sufficient supply to ensure that the prices remain affordable to most of our consumers.”

The next CPI, which will cover prices for June, will be published before the end of the month.