The popular street food 'mayai pasua' now widespread across Kenyan towns and cities has significantly boosted demand for eggs.
On Moi Avenue in Nairobi's CBD, Kevin Muriithi sells street food including boiled eggs and smokies, commonly known as 'mayai' and 'smokie pasua'.
The boiled eggs served with kachumbari (mixture of tomatoes and onions) are now a preferred snack mainly among the low and middle income Nairobians.
Muriithi started selling the snacks using a charcoal stove trolley and would buy a tray of eggs per day and make between Sh600 to Sh900 depending on the day of the week.
He has expanded his business to a small food kiosk from his savings.
“I partnered with a friend and we were able to open a small street food kiosk. The business is going on well and we have been able to employ at least two young people to help run the business,” he says.
He buys at least five trays of eggs a day at Sh450 each from Burma market.
On a good day, like Fridays, Muriithi and his partner make more than Sh5,000 from the sale of the different delicacies of street food including boiled eggs, mayai and smokie pasua, and Kenyan kebab.
A boiled egg with kachumbari sells at Sh30.
Muriithi says he started selling street food due to lack of a job. “Many of these young people are educated but these days in Kenya you have to know someone or offer a bribe to get a job. So, instead of being jobless, we have to be creative to earn an income,” he says.
Another city street vendor, Peter Waigwa, says he buys the eggs when they are already boiled. He sets his trolley in different stages within the CBD.
“Normally, I buy a tray of boiled eggs atSh500. There are people who buy the eggs and boil them, then sell to us,” said Waigwa, who was busy selling 'mayai pasua' near the Kenya National Archives.
He spends another Sh500 to buy onions and tomatoes from Wakulima market to make kachumbari. He also buys smokies.
Waigwa makes Sh600 to Sh900 profit after deducting his daily expenses, which include paying county government levies.
Virgina Kinuthia, a street vendor based in Utawala, buys her eggs in Ruai at Sh450 and sells one boiled egg at Sh30. She makes a profit of Sh500 to Sh600.
Kinuthia’s story is similar to that of other youths who have opted for the street food business due to unemployment.
She says business is currently slow because many people are struggling due to the high cost of living.
Lydia Gathoni, an eggs trader at Wangige market in Kiambu county, said demand for eggs has remained high despite price fluctuations due to challenges of obtaining feed that poultry farmers have been facing since the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020.
Currently, a tray of eggs sells at between Sh440 and Sh480 depending on size.
The egg market is open every day, but it is busy on Mondays and Thursdays. Gathoni says the number of people buying eggs has been increasing.
“Prices have, however, dropped. At the beginning of last year, a tray was selling at around Sh500 or more in different parts of the country. I am, however, grateful that we longer have to compete with cheap eggs from Uganda and we are able to support Kenyan farmers despite many challenges with feed,” she said.
Gathoni has been a trader for over a decade at Wangige market, one of the largest egg markets in East Africa.
Timothy Kinyua, who sells eggs at Burma market in Nairobi, says there has been an increase in demand for eggs especially from young people.
"Initially, most of my customers were hotel owners but these days more young people are buying for the egg hawking business. Some buy as many as ten trays per day or as few as one. This is good for my business because I now have new customers," he says.
A spot check across the shops in residential estates within Nairobi and its environs shows that on average, a crate of 30 eggs retails at between Sh430 and Sh450. In some areas, a tray sells at a low of Sh400.
Zachary Munyambu, a poultry farmer from Ngoigwa in Thika, Kiambu county, said the cost of production for many poultry farmers is high due to expensive feed.
He said from one-day-old chicks up to the point of laying, farmers initially spent between Sh650 and Sh720 per bird.
“This has now increased to between Sh850 and Sh900 per bird. It is mainly attributed to the high production costs due to the scarcity and rising prices of raw materials for poultry feeds. Many farmers have been forced to reduce their flocks or close their businesses altogether,” said Munyambu, the chairman of Kiambu Poultry Farmers Cooperative Society.
The cost of soybean, which is a key source of animal protein, has increased from Sh97 to Sh123 per kilo. Fish meal, another rich protein source, is inadequate and often contaminated with aflatoxin.
“The alternative source, omena, has also become hard to get. We are now relying on artificial protein from overseas countries like China. The price of maize germ has also increased, selling at Sh29 to Sh30 per kilo from Sh23 to Sh24. An increase of Sh5 per kilo means a lot to a farmer,” Munyambu said.
This has pushed feed prices up, with a 50kg bag of chick mash selling at Sh4,200, layers mash at Sh3,800, growers mash at Sh3,400 and 'kienyeji' mash at Sh2,600.
Munyambu urged the government to allow the importation of genetically modified maize and yellow maize for animal feed production, which he believes would reduce pressure on white maize reserved for human consumption.
“We should also work towards producing our own soybean and sunflower for feed milling. We have the land for soy and sunflower, yet we import the raw materials. We need to produce our own raw materials so that Kenyan poultry, pig and dairy farming can be competitive,” he said.
