Kenya: Food Prices in Nyeri Fall Even As Residents of Semi-Arid Kieni Constituency Starve

President Uhuru

With the coming of the short rains and intensified irrigation, the prices of foodstuffs in Nyeri County have gone down due to increased production.

But despite the bumper harvest in some areas of the county, residents of the semi-arid Kieni Constituency are faced with starvation due to biting drought.

A kilogramme of tomatoes is going for Sh40 down from Sh100 last week while a kilo of onions is selling at Sh50 down from Sh80 a week ago.

A 20-kilogramme bucket of potatoes is going for Sh400 down from Sh600 a fortnight ago. Last week, Kieni MP Kanini Kega distributed relief food comprising of 1,000 bags of maize, 500 bags of beans and rice and several cartons of cooking oil to more than 15,000 households.

Eva Murage, a trader at Chaka market, said the price fluctuation as a result of many farmers from Kabaru Location, from where they source for the commodities, embracing irrigation farming.

"Output has increased all year round because farmers are not taking breaks and have maximised on utilising their pieces of land," said Ms Murage.

"Customers are enjoying the low prices but we are not making high profits compared to a time like this last year when each trader would make a profit of more than Sh1,000 daily," she added.

The excess supply of the commodities and the fall in prices is expected to persist up to end of year. According to weatherman Francis Nguata, the short rains are expected to end in mid-December.