Fruit and vegetable shortages: Eastbourne traders say ‘this isn’t new’

As the country sees a shortage of fruit and vegetables, we’ve spoken to traders in Eastbourne about how this national problem affects them.
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Some fruit and vegetables have been running low in supermarkets, meaning that some of the big names have had to ration how much people can buy.

This is due to bad weather in Europe and Africa causing harvests to be lower than expected. The increase in energy prices means that UK farmers aren’t growing as much in greenhouses too which all has an impact on overall production levels.

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The vegetables being talked about most are tomatoes, peppers, and cucumbers. According to the British Retail Consortium, this shortage is expected to last for ‘a few weeks’. Tesco and Aldi have put a limit on sales of tomatoes, peppers, and cucumbers. Asda has capped sales of lettuce, salad bags, broccoli, cauliflowers, raspberries, tomatoes, peppers and cucumbers. Morrisons has put a limit on sales of cucumbers, tomatoes, lettuce and peppers.

Fruit and vegetable shortages: Eastbourne traders say ‘this isn’t new’ - Walid NajdFruit and vegetable shortages: Eastbourne traders say ‘this isn’t new’ - Walid Najd
Fruit and vegetable shortages: Eastbourne traders say ‘this isn’t new’ - Walid Najd

Walid Najd runs plant-based ‘Falafel Box’ at Eastbourne Market. He said due to what he sells, ‘everything is affected’.

Mr Najd said: “Everywhere people go, the prices are going up. People aren’t happy about it.”

Despite the news this week, he said times like this are ‘normal every year’. Mr Najd said: “It’s normal for supermarkets to have empty shelves sometimes, these are not new factors affecting production levels. Last year we had the same problems with harvest - it’s something that happens every year. Like the Maestro - every year plays a different song for you.”

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He said when he was trying to get hold of tomatoes this week, it was like ‘trying to get hold of a gold noble’.

Fruit and vegetable shortages: Eastbourne traders say ‘this isn’t new’Fruit and vegetable shortages: Eastbourne traders say ‘this isn’t new’
Fruit and vegetable shortages: Eastbourne traders say ‘this isn’t new’

Mr Najd said the problems are everywhere. He said: “Everyone has shortages which means it goes up at the wholesalers and it’s a chain reaction - it all comes down to us. This isn’t new though, we’ve just got to go with the flow.”

Ali Fata runs a fruit and vegetable stall at the market and gets his produce from Brighton. He said: “It’s very difficult, it’s all very expensive now. Everything has gone up everywhere.”

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