The price of potatoes across Egypt skyrocketed in September, and they are still high two months later. A market in Cairo’s Bab al-Louq neighborhood closed last week with a price tag of LE17 (€0.84), while the going rate for a kilogram of potatoes in markets in lower income areas across Cairo is LE10 (€0.49).
What started as a strain on citizen’s budgets across Egypt has evolved into a political affair. But behind much of the political manoeuvring, farmers and agricultural insiders that spoke to Mada Masr paint a picture of a sector that has been under strain due to the economic program the government rolled out in coordination with the International Monetary Fund in November 2016.
This program’s push for liberalization has left production costs and distribution for the food staple open to market forces, which has invited the formation of monopolies and compelled farmers incurring heavy losses to think more about bottom lines than how the majority of citizens will put food in their mouths.
And while the state has held up its intervention as sufficient to remedy the crisis, sources tell Mada Masr that leaving the root causes of the potato crisis unaddressed may leave the door open for a recurring cycle.
