Cape Town - Higher prices and shortages of potatoes will hit the country in the coming months as black frost destroys potato production.
The limited supply of potatoes means the cost of potatoes and frozen chips will rise starting in September.
M&R Marketing, based at Epping Fresh Produce Market and specialising in exporting and distributing fresh-produced fruit and vegetables, has issued a notice on a potato shortage expected to get worse in September.
According to this agency, farmers experienced frost for six days a few weeks ago and they had not seen frost like that for 20 years; that frost destroyed their crops.
M&R Marketing buyer Mohammed Adam said “the black frost has killed a lot of potatoes in the Limpopo region, and that has caused a shortage. The Western Cape is not in full production yet, as well as the Northern Cape and other parts of the country.
“That’s why the volume of potatoes will drop. There will be less volume and the prices will increase.”
The Fortress for the Commercial Farmer in South Africa general manager, Bennie van Zyl, said the shortage of potatoes will have a negative impact on distributors and farmers.
“This will have a huge impact on farmers, because it will cost the farmer approximately between R200000 and R240000 per hectare for potatoes, so when you plan 10ha it’s R2.4 million, so that is a loss for a farmer.
“So our main purpose now is to interact with the government and see if there’s one way or another that we can overcome that loss and make sure we get our farmers back into production as soon as possible,” Van Zyl said.
Reacting to the notice, Information and Regional manager at Potatoes SA, Ferdinand Coetzee, said, “According to a survey we did in Limpopo, fewer potatoes are expected in September. The survey suggests more or less 7.4 million 10kg bags will be lost due to frost.
“This is 3% of the total potato harvest in South Africa and 13% of Limpopo’s harvest. But 3% is not a crisis in terms of available stock going to the market. If this number is correct, we can expect prices to increase. To what extent? We have to wait and see. We expect more of a size (large and extra large) shortage than quantity.
“Therefore, the price differences between large and medium will move further apart. We also note that the window of shortage is closing.”
• Cape Argus reached out to the Department of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development for a comment, but they did not respond by time of publication.