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| February 20, 2006 | Monday | Muharram 21, 1427 |
Potato price at all-time high
LAHORE, Feb 19: Potato price has hit all-time high in February, the harvesting season of the crop, as it was sold at Rs20 per kilogramme on Sunday.
Market analysts say if the price trend continues, which in all probability will, the consumers may end up paying at least Rs16 billion extra if the last year’s price is taken as a benchmark.
Potato, a Rabi crop, is sown in September and harvested in January and February. During the last five years, its price is normally at the lowest ebb in January and February as fresh crop keeps a lid on price. But this year has proved to be exceptional because of biting frost in December and January, which has cost almost 25 per cent of the yield.
“The provincial policy planners were preparing for potato export because all indications pointed towards a bumper crop,” said Muhammad Yousaf, special secretary agriculture marketing. It was biting cold in December and January, which hurt the crop and wiped off almost 25 per cent of the expected 1.9 million ton, he said.
There was a 10 per cent increase in acreage and the provincial calculations were around 1.95 million ton. He said it was a natural phenomenon and no one could do anything about it.
Ibrahim Mughal of the Kissan Board Pakistan, however, said it was the utter failure of the government and now the common man would pay. Potato was a major crop and consumed by an average of 12.6 kg in Pakistan. The government had asked people in 2004 to contain consumption of flour because it could not control prices. It repeated the same counsel in case of sugar in 2005 and was likely to restate it for potatoes in 2006, he regretted.
He said no policy planner cared to keep in mind meteorological forecasts and plan accordingly. “They forget that agriculture is a weather phenomenon and someone has to take it into account. When the damage is done, they are apt to deflect the blame on weather.
“There are many ways to cope with such weather patterns and irrigating the crop is one such solution. But the government could neither warn farmers nor provide necessary solution.”
He said during the last 18 years, the potato price had been on average around Rs3.5 per kg, and this year the price had already gone beyond Rs20 and was still rising. Who should be blamed for the mess? he asked.
Shamoon Sadiq of the Pakistan Horticulture Development and Export Board believed that though 25 per cent yield had been lost to cold waves, the country could still easily see through the season with 1.5 million ton. “Potato does not suffer big post-harvest losses as is the case with other vegetables. The national consumption of potatoes is also around 1.5 million ton. The crop export is not big enough to make any dent and this year even that would drop. There can be crisis if big chunk of crop is exported and the country is left with less quantity of potatoes. But that is not a substantial fear because the traditional export pattern is not threatening enough,” he said.
He said the board had devised an export strategy, but it was yet to be executed and could be further delayed in view of the constraints of domestic market.
Mr Nisar Ahmad of the Kissan Board Pakistan insisted that the crop had been sliding both in acreage and yield for the last many years. During these years, the acreage has dropped down to 271,092 acres in 2003-04 from 273,068 in 1999-2000. The production had come down from 1.946 million ton in 2002-03 to 1.888 million ton in 2004-05.
On the other hand, population is growing and so was the demand for crop. Punjab, which contributed over 90 per cent of the crop, and farmers here remained the main sufferer of the policy, he said.
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