Mbili na kachumbari: Why singles are struggling to afford eggs

A few days ago, I was passing time with a group of friends just catching up on what each one of us is up to this year.

Then a conversation came up and it caught all our attention. Everyone had something to say about it.

It started when one of us, looking frustrated and disturbed, said "What is wrong with this country? Where are the egg prices going to?"

We live in different parts of the city. Some come from the East, others from the West, while others are residents of the city's outskirts.

One thing came out clearly. The price of eggs has increased in all parts of the city. From our little chat, the prices varied. In some areas the price was so high while in others there was completely no supply of eggs for a while.

"The other day I went to buy an egg from a shop in my estate but found none. The shopkeeper then told me that there was a shortage. He said his supplier had not shown up for a while and added that once he gets back the supply, he is likely to increase the price," one of my friends commented.

"What do you mean an egg costs Sh20? In Kisumu we buy an egg at Sh25," another added.

This was a talk we had during the first week of January, when the year had just started. We are now in February, and the price of a single egg has increased from Sh15 to Sh20 and in some places Sh25.

The price of a crate of 'kienyeji' eggs now ranges between Sh600 and Sh750, according to a post on a Facebook page called Kienyeji Poultry Farmers. Eggs are a quick fix, therefore, most people living alone opt for it with ugali, rice and sometimes boil or fry it for breakfast.

The chicken products are also used in baking pastries, especially when making pancakes and mandazis. Basically, every Kenyan house consumes an egg at least once weekly.

Anne Wanja is a 26-year-old accountant working as a cashier at Sonford Fish and Chips hotel, somewhere on Moi Avenue. Wanja is a beautiful lady I sat next to in a matatu a few days ago. The conductor refused mobile money payment and that is how our interaction began.

Halfway into our journey, I randomly asked her, "How much is an egg in your area?"

"Let us not even discuss the price of an egg! I think kienyeji goes for 25 and the other one Sh18. I love eggs but with the price, I see myself striking it out of the list," she added.

"The price of eggs started shooting slowly towards the end of last year. I started feeling it in January because I noticed it affected my budget. Since January started, eggs are not a must-have for me,"

According to Wanja, being single, she can fix a meal of eggs in 20 minutes.

"Nowadays, I have adapted to eating an egg twice a week. Saturday breakfast and Monday supper. I can't keep up with the pricing which changes overnight," she added. So what do poultry farmers have to say?

Chicken feed

Going by what most farmers on the social media forum said, the price of chicken feeds has increased and this equally affects the price of the end product, eggs.

As a result, most farmers have opted for cheap and lower-quality products. Others opine that the unpredictable weather changes could also be a key factor.

"Now, farmers have to be innovative. Get cheaper and quality feeds from reliable sources, supplement with unga limited layers mash," Facebook user Blaze Ngugi Muhia says.

Muhia is an egg vendor in Eldoret, Uasin Gishu County. Joe Kioko is a poultry farmer and has been in the business since 2017.

He runs Joekev Chicks Kenya, a business that has farms in Karen, Kamakis, Narok, Kitui, Machakos, Kajiado and Makueni.

He attributes the high cost of buying eggs to the increased price of chicken feeds and the rain shortage witnessed in various parts of the country.

"When I started this egg and chicken business about six years ago, all was good. At the time, we would buy a 50kg bag of chicken feeds at less than Sh2,000. Depending on the brand. As we speak, a similar bag goes for around Sh5,000," Kioko, a farmer says.

"In 2017, a crate of Kienyeji eggs would retail at Sh600 but now it is going for Sh900. I only handle kienyeji eggs," she says.

Kioko says due to the lack of rains, farmers' crop yields have also reduced. Foods from farmers like maize is what the chicken is fed on.

As a result of the high cost of the feeds, most people in the business have opted out, meaning the demand has gone down too.

This is probably why some areas have run out of supply.

Uganda imports

Kioko further explains that the shortage has made some farmers opt to import eggs from the neighbouring Uganda.

"We bring in eggs from Uganda to supplement what we have here. There is an egg shortage in the country. The business is going down and the demand is low because there is no capacity to sustain it. At least that is the case for most farmers,"

Being a key player in the agriculture industry, Kioko wants the government, through the ministry of Agriculture, to support farmers in crop production by lowering cost, reduce tax on imported agricultural products.

"We bring eggs from Uganda because it is tax free there and they have no rain issues like us. If this persists we will end up turning to GMOs. To solve it on time, we continue producing natural eggs."

Kenya Poultry Farmers Association, a body that unites the farmers, said the shortage had been occasioned by the high cost of feed in the last two years. It added that an increase in demand after the easing of the Covid-19 pandemic, which had impacted negatively on purchasing power was also a causal factor.

The association noted that the cost of a tray in Uganda also shot up from Sh205, another factor that affected the local price of the commodity.

"A lot of farmers closed their businesses in the last two years and breeders had stopped stocking laying chicks. This, coupled with expensive feeds in the market has seen a shortage in supply of eggs, leading to the high cost of eggs," said Wairimu Karanja, chairperson of the association.

International shortage

But the egg shortage is not only in Kenya or the East African Region.

The situation is no different in parts of the United States of America, although that has been largely attributed to a tropical disease outbreak. According to a report by CNN Business, weather and disease were the main causes of the increase in the cost of purchasing eggs.

Egg prices went up almost 60 per cent last year. This was after the avian flu was reported to have affected poultry since early last year. Other factors also listed as the reasons for high cost of buying eggs are the increasing demand and higher input costs, such as feed, CNN reports.

The Russia-Ukraine war has largely impacted the supply of grain, a factor that has also been linked to the skyrocketing feed prices that have hit the global supply chain.

Grains are a key component in the processing of animal feeds.