Kenyans could be parting more to purchase maize flour in the new year 2020 as the government affirmed that Unga prices would rise.
According to a report by Daily Nation on Monday, December 29, Agriculture Principal Secretary Hamadi Boga stated that the expected shortage of maize next year and the current high prices would worsen the situation.
As per now, a two-kilo packet of flour costs approximately Ksh130 which is marginally higher than the average of Ksh100 at this time of the year that is the harvesting season.
"The situation next year will be worse than what we have witnessed this season as scarcity in the market is expected to start as early as February and to be safe, we might have to think of imports.
"What we are going to do is regulate the imports and ensure that only what is required is brought in to ensure that the window is not abused," Boga informed the publication.
With the high cost of Unga, farmers, on the other hand, are enjoying a good sale of maize with the value ranging at approximately Ksh2,800 per bag.
In December 2018, a 90kg bag was being sold at Ksh1,800.
This saw the Strategic Food Reserve (SFR) rule out buying maize from farmers in 2019.
"There is no need to set the price at the moment as farmers are getting high prices at the market," Noah Wekesa, Strategic Food Reserve Board Chairman, stated in an interview in November 2019.
In 2019, the Ministry of Agriculture's decision to ship maize from Mexico was a bone of contention between them and the Strategic Food Reserve Board.
The plan which was shelved had the board leaning towards importing 2.5 million bags while the ministry preferred importing 11.1 million bags from Mexico.
