The cost of maize production for a 90kg bag is expected to remain high this year, says Timothy Njagi, a research fellow at Tegemeo Institute.
The cost of production is currently Sh2150 for small scale farmers.
Njagi attributed the higher costs to land rates which increase by Sh1,000 per acre every year, and the procurement cost of chemicals to control the fall army worms.
"Currently the cost of labour is very high, at 30 per cent, while those of fertiliser and harvesting are at 25 and 22 per cent respectively," he said during a press brief on the food situation and high commodity prices in Kenya.
The prices of basic food commodities such as maize flour, sugar and rice, have left Kenyans suffering and the government looking into solutions after pressure from the public.
Agriculture CS Willy Bett and PS Richard Lesiyampe said farmers hoarding maize in Rift Valley and Western are to blame for the shortfall and high unga prices.
MPs, however, blamed millers for “creating artificial maize flour shortfall” by hoarding maize, leading to hiked unga prices in the market.
Bett also said
Kenya's maize shortage was caused by a reduction in the amount of white maize grown worldwide, resulting in the consumption of yellow & GMO maize.
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