The price of maize has started going down over the past two weeks as cheaper imports from neighbouring Uganda flood the informal market.
A 90-kilogram bag of maize that used to retail at Sh 4,200 is now fetching as low as Sh 3,400 following competition from the cheap imports in parts of Trans Nzoia County.
According to sources, middlemen buy 90 kg of maize for between 1,500 and 1,800 in Uganda, which they later sell at between Sh3,400 and Sh3,800 locally.
The maize is being sourced from Bukwo District, Eastern Uganda, where harvesting kicked off last December.
Kenyan middlemen have stocked huge consignments of maize sourced from across the border, which they dry and sell to local millers.
The arrival of cheap imports has seen prices dwindle, a situation that has disadvantaged Kenyan farmers.
Tom Nyagechega, the Kenya National Federation of Farmer Kenff Commodity Representative, acknowledged that the cheap imports have affected local prices.
"The cheap imports have destabilised producer prices and disadvantaged local farmers," lamented Nyagechaga.
He complained that middlemen had taken advantage of the free market to import huge maize consignments that have affected local prices. By Obare Osinde, The Standard