Rwanda: Farmers in dilemma as potato prices drop
Now that a bumper harvest of Irish potatoes has pushed the prices of potatoes down, dealers are scrambling to come up with mechanisms to stabilise the prices.
In Kigali, at the beginning of the last quarter, the retail price of potatoes had peaked, but they are currently selling at 50 percent of those prices.
To reduce losses, authorities are setting minimum retail prices. Implementation, however, remains a challenge as the market is flooded with the product. To influence the supply of potatoes to Kigali city, the farmers are trying to control the quantity of produce allowed to be transported to markets.
According to the Federation of Irish Potato farmers’ cooperatives, the decision to limit the supply of Irish potatoes to Kigali is a bid to control falling prices which affect farmers’ profits.
The New Times understands that Government officials, including the Ministers for Trade and Industry, Agriculture and Local Government, have met over the pricing issue..
Fuente: http://www.freshplaza.com/article/187090/Farmers-in-dilemma-as-potato-prices-drop