Costa Rica: Potato price doubles

Potatoes, both yellow and white, continue to increase their final cost to the consumer every week.

The suggested price for farmers’ markets by the National Production Council (CNP) is ¢3,250 per kilogram. In the second week of January it averaged ¢2,000 and ¢1,475 at the beginning of December.

According to Victor Carvajal, head of the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock (MAG), this is part of the impact of the November rains, when authorities estimated losses of around ¢35,000 million.

The ministry is managing a financial support programme together with the National Emergency Commission (CNE), but these resources will not reach producers before October, the minister told Diario Extra.

"We hope that the CNE board of directors will vote on it in the coming days and once it is approved, we will be able to start preparing the posters to help producers.

We hope that the aid will arrive this year, but we think it will be in the fourth quarter of the year," he said.

The harvest takes place about four months after sowing, so a possible price drop is not expected before the end of March or beginning of April, explains Edgar Delgado, a farmer from Pabellón, Santa Ana.

He also points out that the situation is complicated because potatoes are planted using seeds extracted from the same plant and, with a large part of the harvest lost, new crops will be difficult.

"Where will the seed come from, if it comes from the same production? It will be very difficult to recover," he explained.

He says that at the moment a quintal (100 kilos) of seeds costs at least ¢100,000 and 30 are needed to cultivate a hectare; that is, about ¢3 million. That is why he says that whoever has seeds today finds it more profitable to sell them than to plant them.