Contraband Carrots Back in Focus as Mai Speaks Out

Now that he is no longer in charge, former Agriculture Minister Jose Abelardo Mai is back on the side of carrot farmers. Earlier this year, we took you to San Carlos Village in Orange Walk where vegetable farmers complained bitterly about financial losses due to the market being oversaturated with contraband. It is an issue that surfaces almost yearly, with Mai facing backlash for a crude remark in response to Tracy Taegar-Panton raising the issue in 2022. As an opposition representative for Orange Walk South, Mai once championed carrot farmers. But as minister, he has repeatedly dismissed claims of financial losses tied to legal and illegal imports of carrots and other vegetables. Now, one month after stepping down as Minister of Agriculture, he is raising concerns about contraband carrots once again. First, let’s set the stage with what he said back in January.

 

Jose Abelardo Mai, Minister of Agriculture (File: 9^th January 2025)

“Carrots is a bad topic to use for political mileage. That’s primary school politics. Tracy tried it. She failed. Shyne tried it as well and he also failed. This is a matter of supply and demand. As to contraband, the Ministry of Agriculture does not control contraband. We try to work with customs, immigration – no sorry, customs, quarantine, BAHA. We have porous borders but up to now we haven’t seen enough evidence of illegal importation of carrots because the quality is known.”

 

Jose Abelardo Mai, Former Minister of Agriculture 

“I just got a text from one of them saying that they’re unable to sell the carrots because there is a lot of imported carrots on the market. Now, if it’s imported carrots on the market, it is not imported legally. So I was trying to call the comptroller of customs and BAHA to let us try to tighten down on the illegal importation of carrots so that our farmers can sell theirs. It’s always a challenge this time of the year, always a challenge. But now I continue to keep in touch with the farmers.”