Seeing vending as economic mainstay
THE CONTRIBUTION of market vendors to economic growth is often overlooked by some, especially those vendors who buy in bulk from other farmers and then sell to the final consumer.
For Jody Ann Pottinger a 30-year-old farmer, market vendor and mother of three children – one boy and two girls ages two, seven and eight – who hails from St Ann, travelling to the Spanish Town Market to sell a wide variety of agricultural produce has been her economic mainstay for the past five years.
While Pottinger is quick to admit that the business has its ups and downs, she will follow up with an acceptance that the little she does goes a far way in backing up her significant other, who is the father of her children. For this reason, she undertakes the trip from St Ann to Spanish Town every Thursday, Friday and Saturday, often with the younger of the three by her side.
“I started five years ago cultivating crops like vegetables, plantains and other ‘knick-knacks’ and start to sell just about the same time,” she told The
Gleaner, while skilfully attending to a customer who stopped by to ask the price of her string beans.
“I could not cultivate enough for the market, so I buy different crops from other farmers,” she continued, pointing out the small profit she made from the trade.
Pottinger disclosed that the most she is able to mark up on these products is about $40 on a pound of sweet potato, $30 on yellow yam, $20 on cucumber and cabbage.
“Sometimes if there is a lot in the market, I will get the goods cheaper and then I will be able to see something worthwhile. The plantain, and things like pepper, I am able to do better with because I plant them myself.”