Cape Town – Consumers who are thinking of the traditional potato salad or baked potatoes drizzled with chicken juice on Christmas Day must think again as the price of their favourite spud has gone through the roof.
Currently, a 7kg bag of potatoes costs between R110 and R120, while a 10kg bag costs about R189.99 at grocery stores like Checkers, OK and Food Lovers Market.
The Western Cape Department of Agriculture said South African potato prices surged by more than double over the year, increasing by 102% in October 2023, exceeding the 2022 mid-October potato average prices and setting a new high staple for the vegetable.
The department said in week 38 of 2023, potato prices averaged R10 704 per ton, an increase of 21% week-on-week, driven by a decline of 27% week-on-week to 13 291 tons.
Western Cape Department of Agriculture Macro and Resource Economics spokesperson Ayabonga Sibulali said the industry’s price surge was driven by increased power cuts and an increase in farm input costs.
“The domestic potato prices were already trading on the headline, with a 10kg bag reaching R66.43 pushed by 22% increase due to potato farmers sending lower volumes to the domestic markets, and no imports being lifted from the north producers.
“The commercial market depends largely on the international market of potatoes, which can be influenced by commodity markets, and global market events (such as anti-dumping import duties on frozen potato chips by the South African government).
“An increase in the local production and supply of potatoes would assist in slowing down the potato prices in South Africa, including the Western Cape. Food prices have a significant impact on consumers and this can be detrimental to their food security at household levels in the short-run,” Sibulali said.
South African Agricultural Union (Agri SA) president Jaco Minnaar echoed the sentiment of the Western Cape government, saying in addition to load shedding and the drier conditions in the country’s northern regions where about 60% of local potatoes were farmed, low output by suppliers also added to the price hike.
Minnaar said because the South African potato farming market was struggling to meet the needs of production, the country was relying on importing. However, even that was hard hit by high-cost prices influenced by factors such as the Russia-Ukraine conflict.
“The cost of producing potatoes has increased significantly over the past year or two. This affected the number of hectares planted which meant fewer hectares were available for harvesting. Another thing to note is that we are coming out of the winter season.
“Changing seasons also disrupt the availability of potatoes or any vegetable on the markets. However, that’s not to say there won’t be any relief, because of the demand we will see an increase in production and this should lead to prices stabilising.
“Again I cannot say when this will happen, and that’s perfectly reasonable. But as we go into the new season, there will be more potatoes in the market, however, production will take time,” Minnaar said.
In the meantime, South African households are not the only consumers hard hit by the rising cost of potatoes, local ECD centres and feeding scheme organisations like soup kitchens or homes that feed the less fortunate have been left unable to afford more of the produce as before.
Harare CAN Founder Khanya Qongqo said: “Inflation affects every one of us and even more so the people in need who depend on initiatives like the CAN for a daily meal. When a 7kg bag of potatoes is going for over R120, the quantity of donations we get is less, meaning we service only a portion of the people we need to reach.
“It’s a horrible thing to not have food to give to someone you know needs it, but with things so expensive there is very little we can do. However, I remain grateful to the organisations that are faithful, and continue to support us despite the current cost of food.”
Speaking to the Cape Argus, about what could be done to subside the pressure on consumers impacted by high costs, independent economy analyst and lawyer Bonge Dumisa said that the country’s answer could be merely doubling its numbers of farmers producing food items like potatoes.
“We need to produce more potatoes as a country and lessen our reliance on importing because that comes with challenges and even higher costs. The demand for potatoes will always be there, but the prices will continue to increase.
“We need to increase the number of commercial farmers we have as a country to have sustainable food resources,” Dumisa said.
Cape Argus
