Posted on July, 26, 2018 at 11:30 am
By Halili Letea
Dar es Salaam — Maize prices dropped by an average of 40 per cent in many regions in the last three months as supply increased.
Data by the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment show that prices of the produce fell in many regions.
In Dar es Salaam, the wholesale price of a 100-kilo bag of maize dropped to Sh41,000 on July 20, compared with Sh70,000 in April this year.
The Citizen survey in various city markets has established that retail prices eased to Sh700 per kilo from between Sh900 and Sh1,000 in April.
The data show that Sumbawanga District had the lowest price of Sh23,000 for a 100-kilo bag, down from an average of Sh33,000 three months before.
However, the wholesale price rose to Sh60,000 from an average of Sh30,000 three months in Songea.
In Dodoma the price increased to Sh53,000 from Sh45,000 during the same period.
Agriculture stakeholders attribute supply improvement to increased yields in many areas which cultivate the produce.
An assistant registrar of Cooperative societies in Iringa Region, Mr Robert George, told The Citizen that many farmers were still selling crops of the last year and some had started harvesting.
"Many farmers have sold about 60 per cent of their produce, but this year's harvest is expected to be bigger," he said, adding that growers are confident of accessing markets for their produce as the Warehouse Receipt System works well.
Tandika Market chairman Mohamed Mwekya expects prices to drop further as many regions are still harvesting the crop.
According to the Ministry of Agriculture, maize is the leading cereal crop cultivated in Tanzania, accounting for 74.3 per cent of all cereals.
Maize was planted on 6,067,996 hectares on 2017 of which 6,062,433 hectares were on Mainland Tanzania and 5,563 hectares in Zanzibar.
According to experts, maize is widely cultivated throughout the world, and more maize is produced each year than any other grain.
In 2014, total world production was 1.04 billion tonnes, led by the United States with 35 per cent of the total. China produced 21 per cent of the global total.
Source: The Citizen