Europa: The chips are down for potato growers in Malaga province.

Emilio Arjona’s alarm clock rings at about 2am each morning. An hour later, he is already in the fields to harvest what he sowed in spring.

The months of June and July belong to the potato harvest - between the Vega de Antequera and some municipalities on the Costa del Sol, approximately 500 hectares in the province are dedicated to potato cultivation in Malaga province. But harvesting this vegetable is something that still requires a lot of physical effort. There is no machinery to replace manual labour, and the high temperatures mean that the start of the working day is at the crack of dawn. But what worries Emilio has nothing to do with the work itself.

What is keeping him and the rest of the potato farmers awake at night is that the current market price is barely enough to cover costs. The price per kilo is 0.36 euros. "Producing that kilo costs the farmer around 0.32 euros. For it to be a minimally profitable activity, the kilo would have to be paid at 0.50 euros,” Arjona said.

Many potato farmers in the province are on the ropes as a result after investing capital in a crop that now has no economic return. Consumers will notice however that a kilo of potatoes at the supermarkets is more than 1.50 euros. Arjona said the farmers don’t see this profit, instead it "goes to the large supermarkets".

To understand the problem, we have to go back to the price at source. Before the harvest began, the price paid for a kilo of potatoes was about 0.50 cents. A massive influx of potato from Egypt, however, would have thrown the market out of kilter. "Right now there are three million kilos of potatoes in storage in the port of Valencia," Arjona said.

Unfair competition

The government implemented the food chain law in a bid to order to prevent farmers going out of business. While it fixes the costs of production and regulates the market, the president of Asaja, Baldomero Bellido told SUR that what is happening with the potato is the perfect example of this law taking its toll.

"The price has fallen by 50%. Once again, a large volume of produce from abroad has entered the market. We insist on the implementation of mirror clauses for products coming from outside the European Union. We suffer from clear unfair competition. We want the criterion of preference for local produce to be applied," Bellido said.