- Timothy Njagi, a senior researcher at Tegemeo Institute, warned that food prices may go up from January due to a combination of issues.
- He attributed this to a number of issues among them drought, depressed short rains, international food supply shock.
Image: MERCY MUMO
Brace yourselves for tough times ahead as food prices are likely to go up next year.
Kenyans may have to dig deeper into their pockets to buy food in the next two months, says a food research agency.
Timothy Njagi, a senior researcher at Tegemeo Institute, warned that food prices may go up from January due to a combination of issues.
He attributed this to a number of issues among them drought, depressed short rains, international food supply shock and protection policies by a number of countries.
“One of the reasons is the high cost of food globally due to Covid-19 pandemic, which led to low production while some manufactures cut down on production of some inputs, hence the high prices being experienced on inputs such as fertiliser,” Njagi said.
A 50kg bag of DAP fertiliser has gone up from Sh3,000 last season to Sh4,500 to Sh5,000 this season.
He said some countries like China are stock piling food like maize and wheat in anticipation of a shortage next year.
Russia last week banned export of wheat to Kenya. “We import 75 per cent of the wheat we consume in the country from Russia and Ukraine. With the ban of wheat export in Russia, wheat prices are likely to start going up between December and January,” Njagi said.
Agriculture PS Hamadi Boga told farmers in Central and Eastern regions to grow alternative crops like pulses due to the delayed rains.
He said there will be a decrease in the short rains maize harvest due to the poor rains.
“We had projected a harvest of 10 million bags for the short rains but this is likely to reduce to only five million. Kenyans should not be alarmed as we had factored this in our food balance sheet two months ago. We will be okay until March next year and after that we will make provision for maize importation,” Boga said.
Met department deputy head Bernard Chanzu said the country has not had clear onset of rains and there will be inconsistent rain.
He said what is being experienced are storms that are scattered and may not be conducive for farming, especially in the Eastern and some central parts of the country.
“So we won’t see consistent rains but only scattered storms. The farmers will really need to substitute with drought-resistant crops and use already harvested water. People will need to harvest water, when these scattered storms come. Those planning to plant should invest heavily on farming if they are relying on rains,” Chanzu said.
Njagi said it is critical to keep monitoring if the rains will come especially towards the end of November and beginning of December.
“If the rains resume, farmers need to be encouraged to replant and grow early maturing varieties that can be ready for harvest by January,” he said.
The researcher said the livestock industry is in a worse situation as farmers are losing their animals to drought and if not, the weight of the animals has decreased hence poor price for the animals.
The drought situation has been made worse by the rising cost of animal feeds, but in November 9, the government gave a waiver and allowed importation of duty free maize for animal feeds.
“This will help reduce the cost of animals feeds and also reduce pressure on the local white maize and avail it for human consumption. But we are still not out of the woods yet,” he said.
-Edited by SKanyara