Akkar farmers to shut out Syrian vegetables

Inflow of produce pressures market prices

Akkar’s harvest season is threatened by the inflow of Syrian vegetables, Akkar farmers complained on Monday (April 15). Farmers are calling to stop the flow of competitive Syrian produce, mainly potatoes, cucumbers, tomatoes, carrots, zucchinis, cauliflowers, eggplants, and green peppers. “The regular inflow of these vegetables highly impacts the market, causing prices to drop,” said Omar Hayek, Head of the Cooperative Association of Potato Farmers in Akkar.

Akkar farmers said they are more concerned now with the approach of the potato harvest season. “Traders have stopped importing potatoes since the end of March, in time for the local potato harvest season but the problem is that there is a sizeable amount of Egyptian potatoes already stored in the market,” Hayek said. The potato harvest begins on April 5 and ends around June 15. Akkar farmers produce around 75,000 tons of potatoes throughout this period. Some 30,000 tons are consumed locally, while the rest are exported. Hayek said: “We are afraid that we won’t be able to export these amounts into the Arab markets because transportation through land has almost ceased and maritime transport is costly.”

One kilo of Akkar potatoes is currently sold for LL500. Hayek said exporters complain this price is too high for them: “With the transportation fees added, the price of potatoes would become higher than the price of potatoes already available in most export destinations.”

With the Bekaa potato harvest coming in June, Akkar farmers would rather sell their produce despite the undervalued price, Hayek said: “Although the prices are too low and barely cover the production costs, it is still better to sell rather than store the produce.”

Akkar farmers are calling on exceptional government support for transport fees, similar to ‘Agri Plus’ program of the Investment Development Authority (IDAL) that supports local agricultural exports.