Posted on April, 23, 2019 at 09:23 am
Boniface Msangi - MediaMax Network
Farmers from Tanzania are reaping big from sales of farm produce in Kenya as shortage of basic commodities hit Mombasa and neigbouring counties. Import of farm produce from the neighbouring states have doubled in the last two months, forcing residents of the coastal city and hoteliers to dig deep into their pockets.
This has led to increase in prices of the basic commodities such as cabbage, tomatoes, carrots, kales and fruits at the Kongowea market.
Traders say supply of farm produce to the East Africa’s largest wholesale and retail market have gone down by at least 40 per cent thus leading increase in prices.
Drought situation caused by lack of rainfall, they added, is to blame for the food shortage.
Kongowea market
Kongowea market chairperson Biasha Hamisi said the situation is likely to get worse if the dry spell persist.
She said traders have to rely on imports from Tanzania where rainfall has been reported.
“We are in a wait and see situation, the drought situation in the country has interfered with food production and the market leading to low supply thus we are forced to depend on supplies from Tanzania,” she added.
Hamisi said some of the horticultural produce are out of supply.
“Sometimes we are incurring loses because some of the customers are refusing to buy farm produce because of the high prices,” she said.
High prices
Hamisi said goods imported from Tanzania are being sold at high prices due to high transportation cost. A 13kg sack of onions is selling at Sh650 up from Sh500 last week.
A kilogramme of passion fruits was being sold at Sh120, Sh40 higher than last week. A crate of mangoes trades at Sh1300 while oranges had hit Sh1400 yesterday.
Mary Otieno who runs a grocery shop said the price of commodities at the market have doubled in the last two month.
“I cannot stock my grocery shop with my budget of Sh5,000 every day, the money is not enough. I have to prioritise the most essential commodities such as cabbage, tomatoes and kale,” she added.
Another trader, Florence Beth said 70kg sack of potatoes from Tanzania is selling at Sh4,000 up from Sh2,500 a week ago.
Source: MediaMax Network