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Crops such as potatoes, onions and garlic are not doing well due to the continuous drought.
Prices have also risen significantly, with the retail price of potatoes up 60% from last year.
Reporter Lee Yong-shik conducted on-site coverage.
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is a potato field in Seosan, Chungcheongnam-do, which is about to be harvested.
The green potato sprouts are withering, and the leaves are turning yellow.
There was hardly any rain, and the soil under the ground was drained and dried up.
[Choi Kwon-muk / Potato Cultivation Farmer: There is no moisture in the soil even in the ground.
It's dusty.]
It should be harvested in two weeks, but most of the potatoes are about the size of a ping-pong ball.
It is difficult to even look at large potatoes with high marketability.
[Choi Kwon-muk / Potato cultivation farmer: If the product ratio is 60-70% (in the usual year), then now it is 10-20%.
The only thing that comes out is a yawn.]
Farmers expect that the potato yield will be reduced by 40% compared to last year.
The reason that the potato crop this year was sluggish is because of poor growth due to low temperatures during spring, the sowing season, and severe drought.
Farmers who dig garlic are also concerned about poor crop yields.
Garlic did not grow thick due to drought damage.
[Park Bong-hoon/Garlic Farmer: What is this now, it was too dry even though I gave it a lot of water…
.]
As the supply has decreased due to the sluggish crop, the prices of major agricultural products are also fluctuating.
The retail price of potatoes has risen by 60% compared to last year, and the price of onions and garlic has also increased by more than 10%. Download the Daum Dictionary App!
All.
The Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs decided to release 368 tons of imported potatoes to the market by the end of this month, but the soaring prices of agricultural products are raising concerns both consumers and farmers alike.