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: 24 July 2018; Hits: 5838

Government launches trading screens in Nyeri and Kericho to enable farmers follow live coffee auction feeds

Coffee farmers in Kericho and Nyeri are set to follow live coffee auction feeds at the Nairobi Coffee Exchange at following the launch of trading screens in the regions that will enable farmers get informed prices of the price rather than travelling to the capital city to check the updates.

The upgraded system is an improvement of the 1998 government-introduced automated system that allowed coffee dealers to bid for the beans through pressing of a button and therefore eliminating the open outcry and improved transparency.

It enables farmers and traders alike gauge their credit performance while the trade is ongoing.

The move is set to improve farmers’ incomes and increase the level of transparency at a time when coffee prices have shot up by 18 per cent over the last two months.

Buyers of the produce will receive pro-forma invoice immediately while marketing agents will transact their business by 2pm from the previous 5pm on specified dates.

Food and beverage company plans to improve coffee farmers\' yields

Coffee factory looking for farmers to supply the produce

coffee farmer inspects

According to data from the Nairobi Coffee Exchange, coffee prices have improved from Sh11,000 to Sh13,000 per a 50kg bag.

The rise in prices is attributed to production of high quality beans especially from Eastern Kenya brought for sale at the auction.

In the five months to June 2018, the price of a 50kg bag had dropped to Sh10,000 due to the coffee berry disease that affected farmers crops in the Central Kenya region.

Kenya’s Arabica coffee prices decreased by Sh1.4bn in the seven months to April this year compared to a similar period in 2017 according to data from the Nairobi Coffee exchange.

In this, the value of the crop reduced from Sh13.1bn to Sh11.7bn in the period under review.

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: 18 July 2018; Hits: 17373

Passion fruit shortage sparks price rise across major towns in Kenya

passionfruit A Nyamira County farmer tends to his passion fruits. Passion fruit prices have sharply risen against low supply. Photo by Laban Robert.

The shortage of passion fruits for domestic and commercial consumption has sparked a rise in price as the entities strive to meet their fruit needs.

The disparity in supply is evident from the margin of the cost of passion fruits in the various towns in Kenya. From a sample of seven towns, the wholesale cost difference between the highest and the lowest if triple.

While a bag of 57kg of passion fruit is costing Sh5,104 in Nairobi, the same quantity is being sold at Sh3,000 in Kisumu – the cheapest, according to SOKO+, a digital commodity trading and information system.

Comparing the two towns, the disparity on the cost per kilo is about Sh36 – Sh50 in Nairobi and 53 in Kisumu.

Malindi is buying the same quantity at Sh4,500 while Mombasa is paying Sh5,000 on wholesale, Nakuru is the second highest market after Nairobi buying the 57kg passion fruits at Sh5,100.

Simon Kirima, owner and operations manager at Kery’s Kool Fresh Produce, a company which growers and export fresh exotic fruits and vegetables says this could have been caused by traders from Uganda who buy the fruits from farmers.

“Most farmers for instance in Eldoret where there rise in adoption of passion farming, are opting to sell their produce to traders from the neighbouring country on offer of a slightly higher price,” said Kirima.

This he may be risky, as the traders may buy on a one-off time leading farmers to a lack of market in the subsequent rounds of harvest.

“The farmers deny local traders who are more consistent in market and can buy their produce all time and sell the fruits to outsiders who are unpredictable and this may affect them in future.”

passion fruit kisii

The trend of the low supply of passion fruit has been perennial with soft drinks companies like Coca Cola looking for the fruits from farmers with futility.

The shortage is not only for the fruits, but other vegetables too.

Passion fruit demand has many a time, been high as soft drink companies strive to meet this raw material. They are forced to import the fruits, with some of them bringing in concentrates because the fresh produce is also limited internationally.

Kenya Agricultural Livestock Research Organisation’s Horticulture Research Institute officer Peter Mburu said increased demand makes passion fruit a better agribusiness venture than maize, which on many occasions, does not repay the invested production costs.

On ordinary supply, a kilo of the passion fruits sells at about Sh80.

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: 17 July 2018; Hits: 6370

Kenyan agricultural exports to Tanzania hit five month high

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.

This comes after the two countries solved a trade impasse solving tariff and non-tariff barriers allowing Kenya to export textiles and non-industrial sugar from the export promotion zone.

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.

Government asks farmers to grow more hay for export to Djibouti market

Government agency trains fruits and vegetable exporters on international market requirements

textile

Kenyan workers at an EPZ textile factory. Photo/courtesy.

Pakistan which was Kenya’s leading export destination imported tea worth Sh23.07bn, a drop of 7.11 per cent compared to a similar period last year.

Cut flowers exports to Netherlands on the other hand rose by 13.45 per cent to Sh21.65bn while Ugandan imports from Kenya rose by 2.76 per cent to Sh21.31bn.

Other top export destinations include the United Kingdom, which overtook the USA during the period to become Kenya’s fourth-largest market ordering goods valued for Sh17.5bn or a 12.93 per cent jump as the American order book thinned 7.65 per cent to Sh17.13bn.

Overall, earnings from domestic exports of commodities rose by 4.8 per cent from Sh506.5bn in 2016 to Sh530.6bnin 2017 according to Economic Survey 2018.

Tea remained the leading export earner with earnings increasing by 18.3 per cent to Sh 147.3bn during the same period. In 2017, horticultural export earnings maintained an upward trend at Sh113.3bn, accounting for 21.4 per cent of the total value of domestic exports.

Kenyan agricultural exports to Tanzania hit five month high

This comes after the two countries solved a trade impasse solving tariff and non-tariff barriers allowing Kenya to export textiles and non-industrial sugar from the export promotion zone.

Pakistan which was Kenya’s leading export destination imported tea worth Sh23.07bn, a drop of 7.11 per cent compared to a similar period last year.

Cut flowers exports to Netherlands on the other hand rose by 13.45 per cent to Sh21.65bn while Ugandan imports from Kenya rose by 2.76 per cent to Sh21.31bn.

Overall, earnings from domestic exports of commodities rose by 4.8 per cent from Sh506.5bn in 2016 to Sh530.6bnin 2017 according to Economic Survey 2018.

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