According to Communications Officer in the Ministry of Agriculture, Eric Evelyn, the temporary band has already taken effect.

“Right now we have an abundance of local tomatoes on the island and we have a number of farmers who have excellent quality tomatoes. Because of the production that we have now, we had to put a temporary restriction in place for the importation of tomatoes.

“Businesses are not allowed to import tomatoes until the supply that we have on the island would have exhausted,” Evelyn explained.

The Communications Officer went on to reveal that, “A number of the framers that have tomatoes also have follow-up crops coming as well, so the production that we are witnessing now should carry us into a number of months ahead.”

Evelyn further noted that the island is self-sufficient where tomatoes are concerned. “From next week all of the tomatoes that are sold at the various supermarkets as well as the public market should be locally grown.”

It has also been reported that there has been increase in the cucumber and sweet potato production on the island as well.