Tomato prices drop 25pc on increased supply after harvest

Tomato prices dropped by 25 per cent last week following increase in supply, bringing some reprieve to household food budgets. Data from the Ministry of Agriculture showed a 64 kilogramme crate of tomatoes was selling at Sh3,300 last week down from Sh4,400 a week earlier.

“There is supply coming from Oloitoktok; they have a lot of it there,” said an officer at the ministry who could not be named because he is not authorised to speak to the media.

Tomato prices had been on an upward trend hitting a high of Sh4,800 per crate in the last week of October due to a supply shortage that resulted from an attack by a wasteful pest called the tomato leaf miner. The pest was reported in most high production areas including Oloitoktok, Meru, Isiolo and Kerugoya.

READ: Tomato pest seen spreading to all counties

According to the Ministry of Agriculture, the tomato is the third most important vegetable in the country in terms of tonnage produced.

In 2013, the area under tomatoes was 22,865 hectares, planted mainly under irrigation. The total production was 494,036 tonnes with a value of Sh14.1 billion. Most farmers have taken up greenhouse farming in efforts to smoothen production of the crop that is hugely affected by weather patterns.

Other products that dropped in price in the last week include beans, whose retail price is now Sh5,400 per 90kg bag from Sh5,600.

On the gaining side were kales and green bananas. A 50kg bag of kales gained Sh50 during the week to sell at Sh1,000 while a bunch of cooking bananas gained Sh70 to retail at a wholesale price of Sh570.

County governments have been working on standardising the packaging of agricultural products in an effort to protect farmers.

The producers have previously suffered from brokers who buy produce in altered bags that are able to carry up to double the weight of a standard sack. The goods are then transferred to smaller bags when they get to urban areas allowing the brokers to make huge returns.

The Capital Markets Authority has also been working on setting up a commodity exchange platform that will create a direct link between the farmers and the market. This will help cut out middlemen who buy the produce on the cheap from farmers who often lack knowledge of the market prices in the urban areas.

Efforts to contact the Kenya Agricultural Commodities Exchange, which collects prices from different parts of the country, were not successful.