WARNING: This is Version 1 of my old archive, so Photos will NOT work and many links will NOT work. But you can find articles by searching on the Titles. There is a lot of information in this archive. Use the SEARCH BAR at the top right. Prior to December 2012; I was a pro-Christian type of Conservative. I was unaware of the mass of Jewish lies in history, especially the lies regarding WW2 and Hitler. So in here you will find pro-Jewish and pro-Israel material. I was definitely WRONG about the Boeremag and Janusz Walus. They were for real.
Original Post Date: 2010-08-03 Time: 07:00:01 Posted By: News Poster
By Hopewell Radebe
Johannesburg – FOR the second time in three years, SA faces a potato shortage.
This year, black frost wiped out 3 5000 tons of potatoes in Limpopo and surrounding areas in less than a month, double the quantity lost to “disastrous weather” in 2007.
The quantity of potatoes lost is equivalent to 3-million bags.
Potatoes SA CEO Mark du Plessis said yesterday farmers’ profit margins would be affected and consumers would feel the effects of the shortage, which would lead to price increases.
McCain Foods, which sells frozen potato chips, is one of the processors affected. McCain Foods SA MD Philip Nieman yesterday said the drastic shortage would result in a dramatic increase in the price of fresh potatoes in the short term.
He said McCain had taken “every possible measure” to minimise the effects of supply shortages on consumers.
“We have already utilised the global McCain network to import frozen potato chips to keep our customers in stock, but unfortunately our fellow farmers in the UK and Europe are also experiencing nature at its worst.
“The current drought in that region has raised concerns over crop quality for the upcoming harvest in mid-August … the prices of potatoes on the open market in Europe have skyrocketed,” Mr Nieman said.
He said the company also had a supply network in North America, but these potatoes could be imported only after the new crop was harvested next month.
“Despite our efforts, we anticipate that stock shortages and quality issues will remain with us for the next few months.”
He said weather, particularly heavy rains earlier this year, had resulted in major delays in harvesting. As a result there was a severe shortage of fresh potatoes that met the company’s specifications for processing.
McCain said there was a high frequency of defects in the potato crops, including hollow hearts, malformations, high sugar content and problems with size.
In June and last month, black frost added to the shortage.
Black frost is a severe form of frost that causes vegetables to freeze and die.
Mr du Plessis said the black frost damage hit farmers barely a month before the potatoes were to have been harvested and taken to market.
The frost hit Limpopo hardest. The province is the largest producer of table potatoes in SA, and over the past two months at least 25000 tons of produce had been lost. This represented at least 17% of the harvest, he said.
Mr du Plessis said that the Loskop Valley, between Groblersdal and Marble Hall, had also been affected and lost an estimated 8000 to 10000 tons of potatoes. This area, which supplies the processing industry, lost at least 10% of its harvest.
He said the damage from the frost would probably affect small-scale farmers the worst. These farmers have relied on the fresh market in Limpopo, where direct sales to the highest bidder assisted them in recovering their input costs and helped them make a reasonable profit.
There are two planting phases for potatoes: January to March and April to August.
The lost crops formed part of the first phase and it is uncertain whether the adverse weather affected the second phase’s seeds.
Original Source: 
Original date published: 3 August 2010
Source: http://allafrica.com/stories/201008030033.html?viewall=1