CALL IT ‘MR. BAIGAN’

BAIGAN – eggplant to my urban friends – is now going at $20 for a single pound, the equivalent of half of a URP worker’s daily wage. 

Just the other day, baigan was being retailed at $10, which is also big money for the hundreds of thousands who, according to a Central Bank study, are under the poverty threshold. 

Mr. Baigan is not alone. 

Market vendors are asking $25 for tomatoes, $10 for bodi, $10 for pak choi, $15 for lettuce – and so on. 

The vegetable prices are giving fresh credence to the calypso lyrics: “If yuh brave to still go in the market/Ah could tell yuh dat yuh only takin’ basket.” 

The mind-boggling prices are not the fault of farmers and vendors. 

Repeat floods that swamped the various food baskets added to the woes of higher fuel and fertiliser prices, and, in some cases, security costs to protect against rampaging praedial larceny. 

Literally, millions of dollars worth of vegetables, fruits, poultry and livestock have been destroyed over the past few weeks, as high water levels simmered on previously waterlogged ground. 

Destruction has been extensive on farming communities in the foothills of the Northern Range, those in the Caroni, Oropouche and Nariva wetlands, Barrackpore, Woodland, Sangre Grande, Mayaro and the eastern seaboard. 

Property owners in the low-lying communities also suffered a hit, especially those in Penal-Debe-San Francique, and the Caroni Plains. 

“The water smells like faeces,” said Caroni East MP Dr. Rishad Seecheran, as he toured vast flood-hit areas, including some that are distressed for the first time. 

Flood waters carry deadly infectious diseases that are spread by bacteria. 

Dr. Seecheran routinely appeals to the authorities to dredge and maintain the 40-kilometre-long Caroni River, and such tributaries as El Carmen. 

In fact, this is a familiar refrain of opposition representatives, even as government officials remain mum or spread the blame around. 

Days ago, Mayaro MP Rushton Paray identified several waterways that were at 90 per cent capacity, with water being stagnant in some areas. 

“This flood crisis is a national emergency,” the parliamentarian said, “and deserves prompt and effective action from the authorities.” 

As usual, urban-based officials and relevant institutions are callous, and perish the thought that Prime Minister Dr. Keith Rowley would visit the overwhelmed districts and order relevant action. 

Dr. Rowley presides over a country of 5,128 kilometres and a population of 1.5 million. 

United States President Joe Biden, like his predecessors, arrives within hours at disaster-struck communities and marshals pertinent operations. 

Biden oversees a land of 9.8 million kilometres and 332 million residents. 

So, T&T remains a sitting duck for the ruinous effect of recurring floods that damage homes and other valuables, spread disease and further impact the cost of putting food on the table. 

Including my much-favoured baigan choka!