Local farmers will soon have the opportunity to sell their product directly to restaurants, caterers, manufacturers, hotels and retailers via an online networking hub, effectively eliminating the middle man.

The project has been three years in the making by Caribbean Chemicals which will host the website free of charge to bona fide farmers.

The online platform – www.linkingfarmers.com – is strictly for locally produced food such as fruits, vegetables, root crops,vine crops and animal by-products such honey, eggs, milk as well as meat, poultry, fish to give farmers the opportunity to make the best profit.

Managing director of Caribbean Chemicals Joe Pires said the concept of the project is aimed at improving the profitability and livelihood of farmers. He said the complaint of the middle men making the most money on a farmer's crop was a real concern for many farmers. Caribbean Chemicals is one of the major suppliers of pesticides and other products for local farmers.

"We always say if our farmers do not make a profit that means we will never sell any products. So it is important for us that our farmers make a profit and logically we all know in this country that the middle men make the most money in all," he said.

Pires said some middlemen make as must as 40 per cent mark up on the price of produce they buy from farmers by selling to supermarkets, caterers and other customers. He said the idea of linking farmers directly to consumers was born out of that the idea.

"We want to help the farmers, again the concept is that if the farmers are not profitable, we won't be profitable. So it is important to us, we put out the money to build the website."

[caption id="attachment_983122" align="alignnone" width="1024"] Ramdeo Boondoo, a Chaconia gold medal recipient, at his farm in Palmiste. Boondoo welcomes linkingfarmers.com website which links farmers to buyers. -Photo by Roger Jacob[/caption]

Reacting to the website, root crop farmer Ramdeo Boondoo, who was awarded the Chaconia Medal (Gold) at the National Awards welcomed the initiative.

"It is very good, the middle men wanting all the money and the farmer not getting the recognition and profits from his produce."

He said it will also help farmers "to get out of the bubble" and present produce clean and ready-to-eat food in a competitive market. The farmers will actually see the benefit of their investment," Boondoo said. He specialises in hybrid sweet potatoes, tania, eddoes among other provisions.

Boondoo said in his 60 years as a farmer he had only tried to sell in the wholesale market three times but each time his prices were "beaten down" by the middle men as well as it was risky to venture out in the wee hours to get to those markets. He said he does not think any "progressive farmer" will have a problem with signing on.

Another farmer Dillon Ramkissoon, 30, said he believes the idea behind the website is "a good idea" because of trust issues with the middle men who take hi