market

: 13 August 2018; Hits: 5525

Tea prices drop hurting farmers’ income

The price of one kilogram of tea has dropped from Sh226 to Sh221 over the last one week at the Mombasa auction representing a 20 month due to the cold weather that has led to drop in production of tea.

Data from the Tea Directorate reveal that tea volume sales dropped by 167,189kg this week and this has led to the cumulative increase in price per kilo of tea from Sh276 last year to Sh300 currently.

However, despite the drop in production, the directorate reports that total earnings from teal sales in the first six months of 2018 recorded an increase of Sh1.95bn from Sh39.75bn in 2017 to Sh41.70bn.

This was due to increase in tea production within the first five months of 2018 from 160m kilos to 187m kilos.

Growing purple tea is seven times more profitable than traditional tea varieties

Company flavours tea to boost youth consumption

TEA PICKING

Tea picking in Kenya. Courtesy

Tea is the second leading foreign exchange in Kenya after diaspora remittances. In 2017 tea earned Kenya Sh129bn up from Sh120bn in 2016.

The area under tea increased by 6.5 per cent from 218.5 thousand hectares in 2016 to 232.7 thousand hectares in 2017 according to the 2018 Economic Survey report.

However, production of tea reduced by seven per cent from 473.0 thousand tonnes in 2016 to 439.8 thousand tonnes in 2017.

In this, tea production by small holder growers decreased by 7.3 per cent to 246.1 thousand tonnes in 2017 while output within the tea estates declined by 6.6 per cent to 193.7 thousand tonnes over the same period.

The depressed tea production was attributed to the drought that was experienced during the first half of 2017. The average yield for the small holder growers decreased from 2,086.4 kilograms per hectare in 2016 to 1,913.7 kilograms per hectare in 2017 while that within the tea estates decreased from 2,908.8 kilograms per hectare in 2016 to 2,603.5 kilograms per hectare in 2017.

Write comment (0 Comments)

: 13 August 2018; Hits: 7624

Tanzania bans carrot imports from Kenya affecting smallholder farmers

Tanzania’s Arumeru District Commisioner has banned all local Kenyan carrots from entering the East African Country affecting more than 50,000 smallholder farmers in the country.

In a report seen by FarmBiz Africa, the commissioner says that the blanket ban is in a bid to cushion local Tanzanian farmers and enable them earn more income. This is despite the fact that the five East Africa Community member states Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda and Burundi signing a comprehensive common market protocol allowing goods from the countries to be sold freely across the borders in 2011.

Related

How to achieve high yields in carrots

Why Nantes carrot variety is the farmers’ choice

ABC’s of carrot cultivation

carrot kenya

In October last year, Tanzania impounded and burned 6,400 live chicks from Kenya worth Sh577,000 on account that they were imported illegally via the Namanga border post with traders incurring losses.

Nevertheless, Kenya’s agricultural exports to Tanzania have hit a five month high from a ten year low recorded last year to Sh10.54bn, a 28 per cent increase compared to a similar period in 2017 according to data released by the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics.

Overall, earnings from exports of fresh horticultural produce have exhibited an upward trend since 2014 according to the 2018 Economic Survey report.

Exports values of fruits and vegetables including carrots increased by 23.3 per cent and three per cent, respectively in 2017.

Currently, 138kg bag of carrots is retailing at Sh1,800 to Sh4,140 in various towns across Kenya according to soko+, an online digital trading platform connecting smallholder farmers to bulk purchasers of produce.

In Nairobi, Nakuru and Mombasa one bag is sold for Sh3,800. In Kisumu it retails at Sh3,500 while Malindi records the highest price at Sh4,140. Eldoret town offers the cheapest price at Sh1800.

Write comment (0 Comments)

: 09 August 2018; Hits: 5080

Export prices for cereals, dairy, sugar, meat and vegetable oils all decline-FAO

twiga foods 4

Global agricultural food commodity prices fell sharply in July, as all the major traded items posted notable declines, led by dairy and sugar.

The FAO Food Price Index averaged 168.8 points, 3.7 percent below their June level, the biggest monthly drop since late last year. The index had been steadily rising in 2018 until June.

The FAO Food Price Index is a measure of the monthly change in international prices of a basket of commodities.

The FAO Dairy Price Index led the slide, declining 6.6 percent, with butter and cheese quotations dropping faster than those for whole and skim milk powders.

The FAO Sugar Price Index fell 6 percent to a nearly three-year low, largely driven by improved production prospects in India and Thailand, both important sugar-producing countries. Expectations of lower output in Brazil, the world's largest producer and exporter, limited the fall in international sugar prices.

The FAO Cereal Price Index declined 3.6 percent from June and is now below its year-ago level. Export quotations for wheat, maize and rice all declined, although wheat and maize values edged higher towards the end of July.

The FAO Vegetable Oil Price Index was 2.9 percent lower, its sixth consecutive monthly decline, and is now at its lowest level since January 2016. Part of the July slide was driven by spill-over weakness from the soybean market, which is affected by the trade dispute between China and the United States of America. Rapeseed oil values trended upwards, however, buoyed by improved demand from biodiesel producers and negative crop prospects in the European Union.

The FAO Meat Price Index declined 1.9 percent from its June value, which was revised up in the wake of higher beef export prices from Brazil due to a truck drivers' strike.

Write comment (0 Comments)