Potato farmers in the Uva Province are grappling with significant challenges in selling their Yala season harvest, as the local market is flooded with cheaper imported alternatives.
Growers in key agricultural areas including Welimada, Uva Paranagama, Boralanda, and Keppetipola report that traders are reluctant to purchase local produce due to substantially lower prices of imported potatoes currently dominating retail outlets.
While locally grown potatoes are priced between Rs. 380 and 400 per kilogram, imported varieties are being sold for as low as Rs. 200 to 220 per kilogram, leaving farmers unable to compete.
“This is our main harvest season, but there are no buyers. The imported potatoes have taken over the market,” said a farmer in Welimada, expressing concern over mounting financial losses.
Farmers allege that a deliberate effort is underway to prioritise imports over local production, undermining the domestic agricultural sector and threatening the livelihoods of rural communities.
Agricultural organisations and farmer unions are now calling on authorities to implement immediate protective measures to stabilise the market and safeguard the future of local cultivation.
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