“The shortage in tomatoes is expected to continue until the beginning of December this year” said the general manager of the Israeli ministry of agriculture, Shlomo Ben Eliyahu, in a government hearing convened to discuss the shortage of vegetable produce in the local market in recent months. The hearing included representatives from all stakeholders in the crisis, and its aim was to yield conclusions to the crisis in less than one month.
That timeline is much too slow in the eyes of many. It has been widely suggested that restrictions on importation should be lifted to allow certain key products to be imported from Europe, indicating that the government has been slow to act in the areas of inspection and clearances of importers. Ben Eliyahu stated that “the ministry of agriculture is faced with a choice between easing restrictions on imports and supporting the local farmers”.
The representatives of the growers looked to shed the blame for the lack of production, pointing to historically low produce prices in recent years which effectively forced many growers to shut down their operations or divert their production to the export markets or to other crops. According to their estimates, the cost of the production of tomatoes is 2.5 shekels per kilo, while growers can only get 1 shekel per kilo for them. A major factor in that gap is the high cost of arbitration between the growers and the supermarkets and wholesalers. The growers for their part have not directly opposed importation at a small scale, but have demanded greater governmental support that would allow local production to remain a viable option.
Ben Eliyahu concluded that “if we want to guarantee plentiful produce even in periods of low production that requires careful planning. We can’t have it both ways”. In the meantime it is the Israeli consumers who will have to cope with high prices and low supplies.
