South Africa’s potato farmers are ending the year off under immense pressure. And although industry players are optimistic about the industry’s future, it will be years before the industry recovers and farms return to previous levels of profitability, as Duncan Masiwa reports for Food For Mzansi.
As it stands, potato farmers in the country are not turning in profits. This is mainly due to too many potatoes in the market, and the price farmers are getting for their potatoes is much less than what it should be.
“The pressure does not seem to have a possible break shortly,” said Willie Jacobs, CEO of Potatoes South Africa. “The Russian-Ukranian war still has a major impact on the availability of key inputs, and the current political turmoil acting in on the exchange rate, is not assisting things either.”
In a previous article, Jaco Koekemoer, marketing manager for Potatoes SA, told Food For Mzansi that with farmers already under such severe pressure, these challenges were making matters worse for farmers. Things are likely to change when overproduction is no longer an issue.
Source: Food For Mzanzi. Read the full story here
Photo: Credit Food For Mzansi
