Maize Prices Generally Spike Across The Country

A 90-kilogram bag of dry maize is retailing at an average market price of 1,800 shillings in most parts of the country.

The price rose sharply immediately after President Uhuru Kenyatta directed National Cereals and Produce Board to buy maize from farmers 2,500 shillings from the initial 2,300 shillings.

The price announcement also saw private millers increase the price of 90-kilogram of maize they were buying from farmers from 1,400 shillings to 1,800 shillings.

Maize farmers had hoped that the government would buy their produce at the cost of at least 3,200 shillings for every 90-kilogram bag but the government insisted that the price offered was higher compared to other markets across the region.

The NCPB is set to buy a total of 2,000,000 bags of maize from farmers despite the fact that more than 16,000,000 bags of maize were harvest during the last season.

A 90-kilogram bag of dry maize in Busia is retailing at between 1,500 and 1,700 shillings while in Malindi, the same is retailing at 2,700 shillings.

In Kisumu, a 90-kilogram bag of maize is going for 2,600 shillings while in Mombasa, the same commodity is going for 2,350 shillings.

The average price of a 90-kilogram bag of maize in Nairobi is 2,200 shillings while in Kisii and Embu, the commodity is retailing at 2,000 shillings.

The prices are still lower in Kitale and Eldoret with most farmers selling their produce at 1,600 shillings, with those selling to millers doing it at 1,800 shillings.

A 110-kilogram bag of green maize is going for 3,450 shillings in Embu, 2,200 shillings in Malindi, 2,000 shillings in Eldoret, Kisumu and Nakuru Respectively, 1,800 shillings in Nairobi and 1,500 shillings in Mombasa and Isiolo.

Wheat, on the other hand, is going at 5,000 shillings for a 90-kilogram bag in Malindi and Embu, 4,000 shillings in Isiolo and 3,000 shillings in Eldoret.