Flavio Mamani grows olives, oregano and watermelon in La Yarada, Tacna. For the past two years he has witnessed the soaring fertilizer prices and the decrease in the production of their farms.
“A year and a half ago the sack of ammonium nitrate and urea cost S / 65, now ammonium nitrate is at S / 450 and urea at S / 250”, also quotes the chairman of the Board of Users of Irrigation of The Yarada.
The investment in fertilizers before the main fertilizer increase was around S / 15,000 per hectare, while it now exceeds S / 25,000. For this reason, farmers currently apply less of this product to their crops.
“We put 20% less fertilizer, which also affects the production yield”, comment.
The drop in the level of fertilization will also affect employment in the agricultural sector this season, according to Mamani.
“We now offer 40,000 to 50,000 jobs every day. Of this amount, 20% or 30% will be affected by this year’s agricultural campaign, “he estimates.
The problem of seed potatoes
The Majes Valley planted nearly 3,000 hectares of potatoes every year; however, in the previous campaign, which ends this month, they planted just 1,100 hectares, cites Pedro Lázaro, the agricultural leader of the aforementioned valley.
The above is due to the fact that the cost of production per hectare of potatoes has gone from about S / 25,000 to more than S / 35,000 in the last year. Added to this was that there were no fertilizers on the market.
In addition to the decrease in manpower, the reduction in the use of pesticides and the hours of tractors due to lack of capital, there is a stronger problem that worries farmers in this area of the country: the lack of seed potatoes.
According to Lázaro, the seed of the tuber they use comes from the mountains, from areas such as Huancavelica and Junín, where due to the high production costs, they have reduced the planting of potatoes destined for this purpose, reducing the product supply.
“The farmers’ concern is that there are no seeds for the next campaign,” says Lázaro.
Along the same lines, Arturo Meneses, potato seed producer in the province of Churcampa (Huancavelica), confirms that this year there has been a decline in production. “Production of quality or certified seeds is limited due to the lack of availability of fertilizers and their high cost, as well as high fuel and labor prices,” he says. In this sense, he calculates that this year the production of this crop has been reduced by about 5,000 tons.
In this regard, Pedro Lázaro adds that the reduction in supply will affect sales prices. “If last year they sold us at S / 1.80 per kilo, this year it will be worth at least S / 4.00 per kilo”esteem.
Likewise, he comments that, as the only solution, farmers “will be forced to plant their own production”. However, this potato is of inferior quality and the volume of the crop for the next year will decrease.
Fertiabono would not solve the problems
Last Friday the Ministry of Agricultural Development and Irrigation (Midagri) approved the list of beneficiary producers of the I’ll take it, and in the next few days the subsidy would start to be paid up to S / 7.447. However, farmers agree that this aid will not solve the problem.
“Fertiabono helps in some way, but it won’t solve anything. What we want is for the government to buy fertilizers and bring us something cheaper so that it also affects production prices, “said agricultural leader Pedro Lázaro.
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