Argentina: Producers are prevented from sending potatoes to markets.

Mario Raiteri, Secretary of CONINAGRO and Vice President of the National Federation of Potato Producers, warned about the critical situation facing the  potato chain  and regional economies in general, marked by high costs, lack of infrastructure, competitiveness issues, and price distortions.

"We grow approximately 90,000 hectares of potatoes in the country, spread across different provinces. Half of that area is in the province of Buenos Aires, the rest is in Córdoba and Tucumán, as major producing provinces, and then Río Negro, Mendoza, Jujuy, Catamarca, and Santa Fe collaborate," explained Mario Raiteri.

Potato producers are unable to bring their merchandise to the markets.

He also described an alarming scenario: “Today we are having the problem of not being able to send our merchandise to market because one hectare currently costs approximately $7,000 to produce. Normal production is 60 tons per hectare, and we are not receiving the costs. We cannot even pay for the labor for harvesting and packaging, so we can be present on the tables of Argentines.”

Raiteri argued that structural conditions worsen the crisis: “Not all potato fields are on highways; they’re on rural roads, and it’s a perishable product. If we don’t harvest it at the right time, it rots too. In this case, we can’t harvest it because the economics aren’t right, but we don’t have roads, we don’t have the ability to access markets quickly, we don’t have financial assistance to guarantee a new crop or the development of sheds to withstand these climatic shocks.”

The unsustainability of accessing credit

He also questioned the credit system: "If we had to resort to financial assistance in the face of a bad economic situation, the truth is that credit is inaccessible, it’s really very expensive, and it’s a lifeline made of lead."

The CONINAGRO secretary highlighted the inequality in the chain: "In the case of potatoes, the distortion between the price paid to the producer and the price paid to the consumer is very serious; the difference is 10 times greater."

He then stated that even products with market potential are being relegated: "A papín (a potato) costs the same as a 20-kilo bag of potatoes, but the most serious thing today is that there is no interest in consuming them; they don’t supply them to the southeastern potato market."