Reprieve for many families in Central region as food prices decline against the backdrop of the availability of food items as farmers harvest their produce.
For the last two months, families had reduced their eating intervals from three meals a day to about one or two as the drought persisted and constrained budgets as the cost of basic food items remained high. This has helped in easing the burden on the cost of living that has been on a steady rise for a number of months affecting millions of households.
They are now spending less on cereals and groceries as farmers have realised a harvest and supplied the various markets with food variety thanks to recent rains and favorable weather conditions.
A spot check at the Nyeri open-air market found the prices of commodities such as potatoes that were selling at Sh1, 300 in April for a 17-kg bucket, are now retailing at Sh400, signaling a 69.2 percent decline.
Though not all farmers have harvested, some have already supplied the markets with green maize, beans and potatoes.
Most of the potatoes are sourced from neighboring Nyandarua County and some parts of Kieni constituency.
“With the rising prices of basic commodities, the rains have done us well because we would not have anything to feed our children save for porridge,” said Ms Charity Wanjiru, a consumer.
Other prices that have gone down are green peas which were selling at Sh200 and Sh230 depending on the market and are now selling at Sh80, registering a 65.2 per drop.
A kg of carrots has remained at Sh100, onions per kilo depending on the grade were selling at Sh80 from Sh100 and Sh120 while tomatoes have also dropped to Sh70 from Sh100 per kilo.
“The prices have gone down meaning more flow of customers. It has been a tough year but we are thankful that we are now resuming business,” said Mr Cyrus Wambugu, a trader in Nyeri.
While this is, farmers are worried that due to the glut that will flood the markets with commodities, they might suffer losses that range from spoilage and poor food prices offered by buyers and brokers.
“The post-harvest loss is the worst because there is nothing as hurtful as patiently waiting for foodstuff to mature and harvest, only to throw them away or feed them to cows,” said Mr Benson Mwangi, a mixed farming farmer in Kieni.
The farmers are pleading with the government to set up cold storage rooms that will help store the food items during glut periods, which can then cushion people against the throes of hunger.
“We have asked the government for these storage facilities, especially for our perishable food items like tomatoes but these pleas fall on deaf ears. We wish they could listen to us ordinary farmers,” he added.
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