Skyrocketing vegetable and cereal prices paint a bleak food security picture in Kenya

In the past few months, inflation has swerved around retail stores hitting almost all food items, from flour, cooking oil, and milk to eggs. Now it has reached the vegetables, lentils, and beans markets. Prices have started skyrocketing and demand is gradually reducing as consumers seek alternatives or reduce purchases. A few months ago, Nairobi consumers used to buy kamande, a type of lentil eaten as protein in many homes, at Sh180 per kilogramme. Then the price went up to Sh200. Now some sellers are asking for Sh300 a kilo. “The problem is we rely on importers to sell to us kamande which comes mostly from Canada and there has been a shortage, pushing the price to Sh250. Prices of brown and green grams (ndegu) have also increased by Sh30 to Sh180 per kilo,” says Rahab Wangui, a seller at Nairobi’s City Park market. During long periods of failed rains, low harvests push up prices of the few supplies available in markets. Experts say the price jump is normal because it is being ...