By George Munene
According to agricultural commodity watchers, onions, tomatoes, potato and cabbage farmers are scheduled to benefit from surging prices in the coming weeks and months.
This year has seen the best of times as it has the worst of times for Kenyan farmers. Agricultural produce prices have been driven by unaccounted for wrinkles; Covid-19 restrictions which curbed cross boarder travel curtailed imports of agriproducts leading to an unprecedented increase in prices across Kenyan markets. Erratic weather patterns which are bound to only further affect farming patterns going forward also wreaked havoc on anticipated supply patterns.
“Farming is also becoming more speculative In Kenya, we are witnessing mass rushing into and out of agriculture that creates artificial bubbles rendering the usual seasonal price patterns difficult to decipher,” says Joshua Mamwaka, a wholesale trader at Muthurwa’s Wakulima Market.
We try to forecast where and when the opportunities lie into the new year for Kenyan farmers.
Onions prices hovered around Sh100-120 in April and May, a price Joshua has not seen since he started keeping track of commodity prices in 2015. In August, just three short months later, prices had fallen to a record low of Sh40 per kg, and when he thought the bottom had fallen out they fell even further to Sh34/kg in November. “Prices are just now beginning to rise with a kilogram back up to Sh40. With Tanzanian onions slowly receding from the Kenyan market—they now makeup about one-third of onions and are mostly small-sized with the large onions extinct and the preferred medium-sized onion hard to find. This is compared to mid-June when 80 per cent of the Kenyan onion market consisted of Tanzanian imports. I foresee prices climbing to between Sh50 and 60 for a kilogram in January and February and even above Sh60 over the March and April months when long rains start, “says Joshua.

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