Once again, potato growers in the country are complaining. Not because the yield is low or they lack necessary implements to get maximum farm output, but because of little farm gate prices they are getting for their produce. It has been at least eight years since we last heard potato farmers complaining about unfair prices for their produce. According to the farmers, they are selling their produce at as low as Rwf100 for a kilo of potatoes, which they say is not even enough to cover the inputs that are ploughed into the growing of this particular crop. What is more worrying is the fact that the final consumers, majority of them are in the City of Kigali and other urban centres of the country, will still buy their potatoes at the same price they have been getting it. For instance, in Kigali, a kilo of potatoes goes for between Rwf280 and Rwf350. This means that the crafty middlemen are taking away as much as Rwf200 from every kilogramme sold. This is a huge difference especially since no value addition is visible on the produce. By the look of things therefore, neither the farmers nor the final consumers of this produce that is considered a staple food in Rwanda – it is billed the third most popular food crop in the country – are protected. As for the farmers, before looking at seeking subsidies for the inputs like seeds, fertilisers and chemicals, they should petition the government, through the ministries of Agriculture and that of Trade and Industry to probe and identify where things have gone wrong along the supply chain. It is through such that the crafty middlemen will be identified and weeded out to ensure both the farmers and consumers are protected.
