In Kenya, farmers reap from historic maize price as crisis looms
Maize (Corn)
Kenya
Published Nov 17, 2022
Tridge summary
Joseph Wanjala is a happy farmer. For the first time, he is earning a record Sh4,500 for a bag of maize at the farm in November. The high cost of the staple at the peak of harvesting comes as a boom to farmers but portends difficult times for consumers who have to contend with the high cost of flour.
Original content
The high prices of the staple come at a time when Kenya faces one of the worst famines with more than half of the counties now crossing to the acute drought stage and 5.1 million people in need of food relief. “For me, this is one of the best years, in my 20 years of farming, the prices of maize have never hit this high,” said Mr Wanjala. Whereas the selling price is impressive, the total production in the ongoing crop season is expected to drop at least three million to 34 million bags. This implies that the available stocks expected this year will last for nine months and Kenya will have to rely on cross-border imports to meet the deficit. ALSO READ: Kenya risks food shortage as new regional buyers emerge The decline will add pressure on available food and is likely to worsen the situation given that the traditional source markets for Kenya-Uganda and Tanzania have found alternative markets for their crop in South Sudan and the United Arab Emirates where they fetch a good price. ...
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