“Potatoes” with “land license” by “Corona” … and farmers throw the harvest on the street

Potato growers are in crisis due to collapsing prices despite Egypt’s comparative advantage in production, and according to experts, the crop is subject to a conspiracy that needs urgent state intervention to protect food security and ensure potato growers are not reluctant to plant next season..

Dr. Ismail Abdel Jalil, former director of the Desert Research Center, said that the fall and collapse of potato prices is a “historic opportunity” to correct the consumption pattern of Egyptians by moving towards the potato consumption more than other food crops that consume more water, although we import large amounts of them, while Egypt has a comparative advantage in potato production..

Abdel Jalil added to Al-Masry Al-Youm that the world is moving towards the adoption of policies to change the pattern of dietary consumption to face the negative effects of climate change and its reflection in the high rates of drought by moving towards food products with less consumption of water, including potatoes, which are one of the world’s priorities as one of the advantages of the pattern. Healthy and adequate foods to counteract these risks.

The head of the Desert Research Center called on the government to develop the necessary plans to educate citizens to change the consumption pattern by promoting potato consumption and applying the contract farming law to it due to its economic impact, especially with regard to to manage the water unit and benefit from the economic value of the water unit in food production, indicating that potato cultivation is an economical crop that saves The wheat import bill from abroad reduces the challenges of increasing of water demand. Abdel Jalil pointed out that potatoes rank highly as a result of the amount of their food production in terms of productivity of more than 15 tons per acre compared to the water used for other crops, as potatoes produce more food than any other. another important crop per unit of water, explaining that potatoes produce 5,600 calories. Dietary energy compared to corn, which produces 3,860 calories, wheat 2,300 calories, rice 2,000 calories and potatoes contain twice the protein and energy of what is produced from wheat and corn..

For his part, Dr. Samir Al-Najjar, head of the Association of Agricultural Entrepreneurs, requested an urgent intervention from the responsible authorities, headed by the Ministry of Agriculture, to save the potato crop, which was exposed to disaster this season due to the Increase in supply versus demand due to the Corona pandemic and the increase in losses that reached the execution of Egyptian shipments in the country and abroad, indicating that there are large quantities of potatoes that were harvested in the last winter season and the start of the summer cycle harvest, causing a significant increase in supply and a collapse in prices..

For his part, Dr. Ahmed Al-Attar, head of Egypt’s Agricultural Quarantine, said that the crop marketing crisis is not a problem of increased exports abroad, but the Crown crisis has caused a decrease production demand due to closure policies to limit the spread of the disease, resulting in the closure of restaurants and potato products..

Al-Attar asked to develop plans to expand the marketing of potatoes locally, to face emergency crisis in case of reduced demand, through Egyptian promotional campaigns on the importance of potatoes in the diet of Egyptians due to its multiple health benefits for people compared to the dietary pattern of potato alternatives..

For his part, Hatem Al-Najeeb, vice president of the Fruit and Vegetable Chamber of the Federation of Chambers of Commerce, said that the potato has been heavily dumped in the markets due to increased crop productivity and increased lack of opening of new markets to increase Egyptian potato exports, which was reflected in the decrease in the price per kilo, which ranges from 50 piastres to 150 piastres per kilo in transit markets. , Calling on the government to intervene, through rational policies, to achieve a balance between supply and demand, to protect producers of potatoes or other agricultural products to ensure sustainability in agricultural production..

Al-Najeeb added to Al-Masry Al-Youm that the markets for the sale of vegetables and fruits suffered a significant price drop, including the price of potatoes that spread to other crops, including tomatoes, whose prices decreased due to the increase. from the supply to 3 pounds per kilo, and the price of pepper dropped to 3 pounds compared to 10 pounds for the same period last year, the price of a kilo of eggplant ranged between 75 piastres – 1.5 pounds for its varieties, and the option price ranged between 2.5 and 4 pounds, while the price of molokhia ranged between 2.5 and 3 pounds per kilo and the prices of oranges ranged between 2.5 and 3 pounds and tangerines ranged from 1.5 to 2.5 pounds and guavas from 3 to 5 pounds, the price of a kilogram of pomegranate ranged between 4 and 6 pounds, compared to 12 pounds during the same period last year..

According to reports from the Ministry of Agriculture, Egypt grows around 400 thousand potato feddans distributed in 3 agricultural circuits, the first of which is the summer cycle and is planted in December and January and harvested in May, and the potato seed Indigo is planted in June and harvested in October, and winter, grown in August and September and harvested in the Minya governorates. Built Suef and Fayoum during the month of December, while the productivity of feddan reaches over 15 tons per feddan.

For his part, Dr. Ali Abdel Mohsen, Director of the Institute of Agricultural Economics, said that the world is currently going through an exceptional year and a year of crisis, due to the Crown crisis and the movement of international trade that is subject to a great paralysis, which was reflected in one of the most important Egyptian agricultural crops, which is the distinguished potato in previous years in international markets, by increasing the supply due to the decrease. Its prices internationally and its prices are lower in the local market, indicating that the agricultural sector was exposed during the same period to an expansion in the cultivation of the crop after being exposed to an unprecedented price increase in 2019..

The Director of the Institute of Agricultural Economics suggested that the government move towards the adoption of 3 solutions to prevent the reappearance of the crisis or mitigate its effects on the Egyptian farmer, among them, granting soft loans that help the farmer to store the harvest, which It will be marketed regularly throughout the year, in addition to providing soft potato manufacturing loans to expand operations. Manufacture and obtain added value from potato processing, and ensure sustainability in the marketing of potato products, indicating that the third proposal depends on Egypt’s success in the national vegetable seed production program to provide seeds at reasonable prices. that reduce the cost of production and reduce the effects of market fluctuations due to excess supply over demand or the opposite.

In Minya, farmers dumped quantities of the potato crop on both sides of canals, riverbanks and roads, after the price of the kilogram collapsed from 10 pounds to 70 piastres, and a ton from 10,000 to 70 and 100 pounds. And vacating the land for other crops can compensate for the loss of potatoes..

The villages of Minya, Matai and Bani Mazar witnessed a state of sadness following the collapse of potato prices to 70 pounds a ton, up from 1,000 pounds last year. And the town of Al-Barjaya witnessed a recession among traders, who revealed that for the first time, exports stopped due to the Corona epidemic...

Muhammad Fawzi and Ahmed Arafat from Al-Barjaya Village, Minya said the village was in a state of pain as it was a potato exporting village in the wake of the recession due to the suspension of exports and increased supply of the product, causing prices to fall by 90% compared to last year. Demand factories of agricultural products in Upper Egypt, to avoid stagnation of crops. Hussein Abu Saddam, Chairman of the Farmers’ Union, added that there are several reasons for the decline in the potato crop this year, the most important of which is the increase in the supply of seeds and the elimination of seeds by growing desert lands, secondly, the expansion of the planting of large areas of potatoes this year compared to last year, with the cessation of export operations due to The new Crown epidemic and the rejection of countries to the commercial movement to prevent the epidemic. And demanding serious control from the Ministry of Agriculture over the seeds before they are sold to farmers..