Colombian farmers association Fedepapa rejects the import of potatoes for the processing industry

Fedepapa, the Federation of potato producers in Colombia rejected the repeated requests that the processing industry has made to import fresh potatoes because, according to Fedepapa, Colombia has enough supply.

Fedepapa reported that, despite having the support of the Ministry of Agriculture, Industry "addresses the issue where they can, for the Ministry of Commerce and then to the Ministry of the Presidency, but the Agriculture Minister has not supported us" .

In this sense, José Manuel Garcia, President of Fedepapa, said the country produced 2.7 million tons of potatoes, enough to satisfy the country's demand.

Garcia said that, "the industry only consumed 8% of the country's total production, and that the remaining 92% was sold fresh at the markets and supermarkets."

José Manuel Garcia, President of Fedepapa:
 

"There has been talk about importing precooked potato, which is legal and it has been shifting cultivation areas. However, the industry has asked the Government to import fresh potatoes so we have been delivering information about the production to the industry."

The trade union leader also said that allowing fresh potato imports could represent sanitary risks for the Colombian production and a speculation in prices that would affect the farmers.

José Manuel Garcia:
 

"This would affect the community because the potato crop is an economic engine in the municipalities where it is cultivated."