Food prices soar in Kisumu amidst surplus in Laikipia, Uasin Gishu

As farmers in Uasin Gishu and Laikipia complain of a glut, one tomato is selling for Sh10 less than four hours away.

The lakeside city has been hit by a tomato shortage, pushing the prices out of the reach of many residents.

The scarcity comes in the wake of reports that tonnes of tomatoes were rotting on farms in Uasin Gishu and Laikipia counties, barely eight hours away, for lack of a market.

A crate of tomatoes, which retailed at between Sh6, 500 and Sh8, 000 before, is now selling at Sh12, 000.

Three average-sized tomatoes are going for Sh25. Deeper in the estates, one such tomato is selling at Sh10. A kilogramme is fetching Sh150.

According to traders at the Jubilee fresh produce market, prices started going up last month when the rains arrived.

“We used to buy from Kano, Sondu, and Homa Ba, but the rains seem to have affected farms there. This has fuelled scarcity and pushed up prices,” said Susan Akinyi.

Rains blamed

The prices of onions, kales, garlic, and Irish potatoes have almost doubled.

A kilogramme of onions that previously went for between Sh60 and Sh80 at farm price has now shot up to Sh110 and retails at Sh130.

A nine-kilogramme box of garlic now goes for Sh3, 500, a rise of about 40 per cent.

A 100-kilogramme bag of potatoes is going for Sh8, 500 and is retailing at Sh100 per kilogramme, up from Sh50.

Green vegetables, which came in abundance from Kisii and Sondu, have also seen a drop in supply.

Flooding of rivers

The flooding of rivers feeding Lake Victoria has seen the prices of fish rise as fewer fishermen go out on the lake and the fish move farther and deeper into the water body.

Josephine Achieng’, who imports fish from Uganda, said a kilogramme was selling at Sh330, up from Sh280.

Dagaa (omena), a common alternative to the more expensive tilapia and Nile perch, has also registered a price increase, fetching Sh350 for a two-kilogramme tin.

According to Ms Achieng’, rising demand for fish has seen Chinese imports – which flooded the local market last year – significantly drop.

And as the effects of the ban on logging bites, the traders who fry fish on firewood stoves are grappling with dropping profit margins.

Three average plunks of wood now go for Sh50 while charcoal prices have doubled from Sh1, 500 a sack.