KENYA – Agriculture and Livestock Cabinet Secretary Mithika Linturi has affirmed to Kenyans that the cost of unga is on a free fall, hoping to hit a low of KES 120 in the coming weeks.
The CS spoke during a random shopping trip to monitor the price of maize meal at select supermarkets in Nairobi.
The CS said Kenyans would this year celebrate Christmas affordably with the cost of their popular staple coming down drastically across the country due to enhanced yields from the farms.
“The government’s interventions that target to subsidize production are paying off gradually and we expect the prices of Unga to come down further in the coming weeks as we head towards Christmas,” the CS said.
After the spot check, the CS said that the cost of a 2kg bag of the cheapest Unga was retailing at KES 130 for popular brands across major estates in Nairobi including Kawangware, Kangemi and Kibra.
The CS said this marks a substantial decrease from the KES 240 price tag when the Kenya Kwanza government took office.
“When the Kenya Kwanza government took office, the cheapest 2kg bag of Unga was selling at Sh240, but as you can see those prices have come down to between KES130 and KES170 for the most common brands,” the CS said.
In the last few weeks, the cost of food prices has started to drop gradually with the government attributing the success story to subsidized cost of production that saw farmers return to farms cheaply to enhance food security.
Linturi added that food security is a key priority of the Kenya Kwanza government. According to him, the current administration is already working closely with farmers on measures to increase agricultural yields to consolidate the food security agenda in the country.
Last week, President William Ruto assented to the Supplementary Appropriation (No.3) Bill that gave room to expand the budget for fertilizer subsidy by adding KES 8.25 billion (US$54M) to the program.
According to President Ruto, the move to subsidize the cost of fertilizer was a masterstroke that has now seen the maize production, in the country, go up by 200,000 per care this year with 18 million additional bags of maize set to be harvested.
Linturi said he will going forward personally lead inspection visits to various regions to ensure that retailers’ prices of Unga reflect the actual prices as guided by market forces.
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