Maize price rises as shortfall looms

Maize prices are on steady rise following revelations that production of the staple in Kenya has dropped.

The cost of the commodity has increased in the last two weeks by at least Sh120 ($1.5) across Kenya, with Nairobi leading among regions with steep rises. A 90kg bag of maize in the capital is going for Sh3,268 ($38) in wholesale markets, up from an average of Sh3,096 ($36) a fortnight ago. Price of the commodity is highest in Kisumu, Kenya’s third largest city. A 90kg bag of the staple is being sold at Sh3,612 ($42), up from about Sh3,440 ($40) the previous weeks. In Mombasa, the cereal is going for Sh3010 ($35) per 90kg bag. There have been little price changes in the coastal town in the past weeks, with the cost of the commodity stabilising at Sh3010.

The government in a food security report released last week showed that the country had not achieved its maize production target.

Out of the targeted 1.8 million hectares of production, the country achieved only 89 per cent. The State Department of Agriculture (SDA) attributed the shortfall to diseases and weather conditions.

“The reduction in yields and production are attributed to delayed and reduced land preparation due to political campaign interference, very high rainfall and flash floods that affected some farmers in the major grain production areas, early cessation of long rains before crop maturity and delayed supply of subsidized fertiliser,” said the report.

On the other hand, researchers from Egerton University’s Tegemeo Institute noted in a report that Kenya’s maize production this year fell by 33.4 per cent. The institute said farmers harvested 29 million 90kg bags of maize during the long rains season, against a target of 43.4 million bags.

This means the East African nation, which consumes 3.72 million 90kg bags of the staple each month, has a shortfall of about 14 million bags. Traders blame the steady rise in maize prices to unscrupulous people, who have started to hoard the commodity in anticipation that the price will double. “Middlemen are buying the commodity from farmers to hoard so that they can reap when the shortfall begins to bite,” reckons George Kipkoech, who runs a posho mill in Kayole on the east of Nairobi.

Kipkoech said maize prices in breadbasket areas are a three- year high. “The last time I bought a bag of maize at Sh2,666 soon after harvesting was in 2010, when the country later faced a food crisis. It is happening again this time. A 90kg bag of maize usually goes about Sh2,150 after harvesting ends,” he said.— (Xinhua)