Kinangop onion and tomato farmers decry low produce prices, cite unfair competition from Tanzanian traders

The most affected are onion and tomato farmers with prices of the products from neighboring country dropping by over 50 percent in the last two months.

Prices in the agriculture-rich area however remain high due to the high cost of production coupled with poor road infrastructure and brokers.

According to traders and farmers from the ‘Soko Mpaya’ vegetable market along the Nairobi-Nakuru highway, the influx of produce from the country had adversely affected them.

A trader Isaac Kamara said that the price of 1kg of onion had dropped from a high of Sh130 to Sh70 due to oversupply from the Tanzania market.

He noted that farmers in the country were incurring high production costs which was giving the farmers from Tanzania unfair ground.

He added that prices from the local farmers continued to be high adding that it was time that the government intervened and looked at the prices of fertilizer and fuel.

He said the biggest challenge facing local farmers are the high prices of farm inputs like fertilizer and chemicals with rising prices of fuel worsening the situation.

Another farmer Stella Wanjiru said that a crate of tomatoes from Tanzania was retailing at Sh2,500 per crate compared to Sh3,200 from local farmers.

She said that this had negative effects on them at a time when production was high with traders opting for foreign produce at the expense of locals.

A carrot trader Jane Wangui noted that the harsh economic times had also seen demand for the produce drop with consumers ignoring some produce.

This was echoed by John Kinuthia who attributed the low demand for fresh produce to low purchasing powers among the consumers.

Kinuthia who sells cabbages termed the high taxes coupled with rising cost of fuel as some of the major challenges currently facing farmers and traders.