Potato farmers in the Akkar region held an emergency meeting in the presence of Representative Jimmy Jabour, a member of the Parliamentary Agriculture Committee, and Taha Mustafa, Head of the Agriculture Department in Akkar, to discuss the implementation of the decision of the Minister of Agriculture, Dr. Nizar Hani regarding regulating the import of Egyptian potatoes.
The decision aims to limit the import volume to 25 thousand tons for direct consumption and another 25 thousand tons allocated for manufacturing. The decision also set March 19 as the last date for the import process, with the aim of protecting the potato growing season in the Akkar Plain, which begins at the beginning of April.
The attendees issued a statement stressing the importance and correctness of the decision, and indicated that they are under pressure from some merchants who seek to flood the markets and threaten the local product. The statement also revealed the existence of monopolistic practices carried out by some merchants by reducing the quantities of potatoes offered in the market and raising prices, while storing large quantities of them in their warehouses. The statement held these merchants responsible for the artificial crisis.
The attendees called on the Ministry of Economy and the regulatory bodies to reveal the stocks held by merchants and oblige them to provide the market’s need for potatoes and to re-evaluate prices. They pointed out that the price of one kilogram of Egyptian potatoes arriving in Lebanon does not exceed “30 thousand pounds.”
