Kenya: Potato prices to fall next month
Edward Mwamba, the national secretary of KNPFA, said he did not expect harvesting to begin this month, despite the fact that the rainfall has commenced.
Mwamba said most of the potato farms in Molo, Mau Narok and Kuresoi which supply Nairobi, Mombasa, Kisumu and other major towns lay dormant during the dry spell which was experienced since January. "We only expect the farmers to have plenty of harvest next month. Then we will see the prices go down. They had skyrocketed to an unreachable scale to most of the urban consumers," said Mwamba. Usually a 90kg sack of potatoes costs between Sh800 ($10 US) and Sh1,000. However, since January the prices have gone up to between Sh4,000 and Sh6,000.
In the past, in such circumstances, traders sought potatoes from Uganda and Tanzania, but these have experienced similar lack of rainfall this season.
Mwamba says there is an urgent need for the development of drought resistant stocks.
Source: allafrica.com
