market

: 03 July 2017; Hits: 5384

Increased tomato supply reduces profits

Tomatoes photo by BBC.jpg

Tomatoes ready for sale. Traders are making less profit despite increase of the tomato production. Photo by BBC.

Unlike when the price of the commodities was high about three months ago, tomato traders are making low profits as the supply rises.

Apart from the selling sheds, more tomato vendors have endeared to the sidewalks of Waiyaki Way and nay other free space within the market with high traffic with wheelbarrow and hand-cuts to capture passing by customers. Most of them are selling four to six tomatoes for Sh10.

The hand-cuts are also common in the residential areas as the hawkers come calling and shouting their cheap ware.

“It was better for us when the price of a 64kg tomato crate was selling at Sh6,500. A few of us were buying and selling well. Despite the price, the consumers looked for us into this sheds tacked away from the road,” Rose Mecha, a tomato trader in Kangemi said.

In March for instance, Rose sold a 64kg crate in two days. But now it is taking six to seven days.

Tomatoes shot in price from an average of Sh3,500 to reach Sh7,000 in most town in Kenya during the prolonged drought of November 2016 to March 2017.

Three tomatoes were costing between Sh30 and Sh50 depending on the market. But the price has fallen to two tomatoes for Sh10 while the lower quality fruits are selling at three or four for the same amount of money.

“When we were few, I could make Sh4,000 profit from the 64kg crate in two days. Although we buy it cheap now, it takes long for me to finish one of them to get about Sh2,000 on top of the buying price,” Joy Mwende, another tomato trader in the market said.

The prolonged drought caused a surge in prices of basic consumer goods including vegetables, fruits cooking flour among others.

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: 13 June 2017; Hits: 7376

A pair earns exotic birds fan over Sh30,000

Pigeons exotic Mustafa Adamjee By Laban Robert.JPG

Mustafa Adamjee with some of his pigeons at the Mombasa's Mukomani ASK Show ground in 2016. Pigeons earn him more than Sh30,000 a pair. Photo by Laban Robert.

While more farmers are delving into the crowded chicken farming, Kwale County farmer - Mustafa Adamjee - is earning more than Sh30,000 by selling a pair of various pigeons alongside other ornamental birds.

Although the local market is still low, the exotic pigeons and doves he stocks at the Diani Bird Farm attract buyers internationally; they do not mind about the price, which may look a exaggerated to most people.

“Demand may be low. But for a customer who is looking for a certain bird, price is their last thing to worry about when they get it,” the youthful farmer said.

The ornamental birds are “live flowers flying within the compound”, he said, adding that it is about prestige and not the cost.

A pair of frillback pigeons fetches Adamjee Sh35,000. A pair of trumpeter pigeons also earns him a similar amount.

Chinese owl pigeons cost Sh30,000 while French mondain earn Sh40,000 per a pair. French mondain can grow to more than one kilo, which is sufficient for a small family meal.

Diani Beach was in April 2017 ranked the seventh best in Africa by Trip Advisor. Diani, which is less than 10 minutes drive from Ukunda – an Indian Ocean show town in Kwale where prestigious hotels are located – receives local and international tourists. Tourists are known not to shy away from spending such an amount on anything that pleases them.

There is nothing special with these birds, the 19-year-old farmer said. They feed just like other birds and the cost of production is almost the same as that of the common doves and pigeons - which are sold at about Sh2,000 per pair, Adamjee said.

Diani Bird farm also has capuchins, archangels, giant homer, bantams, among other birds.

He started the ornamental birds business seven years ago with Sh2,000.

Doves and pigeons mature within six months just like chicken. But with a market, they can fetch more than 30 times.

These birds are becoming common in celebrations like weddings, where they symbolise peace.

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: 08 June 2017; Hits: 7085

Easy tricks of selling the much demanded soy beans

SoyaBeanProducts Photo by Africa Do Business.jpg

Some byproducts of soy beans. Selecting the right variety for the specific market enhances selling of the crop harvest. Photo by Africa Do Business.

Farmers planting the right variety of soy beans in respect to market demand easily hack the undying demand for the commodity before the seeds expire.

Dry soy beans expire six months after harvesting. Despite being one of the most sought after crop for its rich oil or proteins, farmers are shying away from cultivating it as a result of the losses they incur when they miss the consumer before expiry.

Speaking on the sidelines of the Food Trade East and Southern Africa (FTESA) regional grantees meeting in Nairobi, Classic foods Ltd Chief Executive Officer Wachira Kariuki said the market is ‘hungry’, but the farmers are delivering the wrong output.

Soy beans are classified based on oil or oil or protein content.

“Companies are looking for soy beans for extraction of cooking oil. Millers are also looking for protein-rich soy beans for fortification of cooking and baking flour. If the farmer does not have the required variety with the ingredient being looked for, the processor will turn them back,” the CEO said.

If the farmers store the beans past six months, they are rejected, a fact that make them lose interest in the crop, which is on demand all-year round.

Depending on the supply, a 90kg bag costs Sh5,400 to Sh9,000in Kenya.

Bidco Africa is one of the companies that have consistently announced they need soy beans for cooking oil.

It is required by law that maize flour millers in Kenya enrich their products with other nutrients to this staple food.

The 25 per cent protein added to the flour is from milled soy beans. Other minerals like iron, zinc, among others are got from amaranth seeds among other sources.

Soy seeds that have stayed for more than six months have a germination rate of less than 10 per cent.

In helping the farmers overcome these challenges, Classic Foods LTD works with input companies to deliver seeds that have not expired.

The soy flour processor also trains farmers on how to get the best yields besides offering them the market.

Although the company processes flour, it also buys the oil-rich soy beans, which it delivers to other processors like Bidco to lessen the burden of searching for the market to the farmer.

“The Classic Foods experts help farmers get the best output per acre with minimum expenditure. Prompt payment is made to enable the farmers start the next production cycle smoothly,” Kariuki said.

The company is working with at least 17,000 farmers in Kenya and Uganda. They are in groups under other lead farmers. It also runs regional demonstration farms.

Because most farmers in Kenya cannot abandon maize for any other crops, they are guided to come up with a rotation timetable, which will ensure the beans enrich the soil with nitrogen.

Besides, the farmers are trained on value addition. Several groups are including a certain percentage of soy beans flour in baking to come up with products such as cakes, cookies, chapatis, doughnuts, among others.

Classic Foods Ltd is one of the grantees of the FTESA trade enhancement and promotion programme focusing on staple food value chains.

The programme is funded by the UKaid to support the private sector and other institutions to improve storage, input service markets, information and coordination and influence policy to enhance trade in the region.

The five-year trade enhancement programme has impacted more than 1.3 million people in Kenya, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Tanzania, Rwanda, Burundi, Uganda, Malawi and Mozambique.

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