A random survey carried out in municipal markets in Buguruni, Temeke, Mwananyamala, Ilala and Gongo la Mboto markets shows that the price of a bag - whose price remained stable for a number of months - has shot up from Sh. 17,000 to sell at Sh. 23,000 of late.
Traders engaged in maize milling attributed the sudden rise in price as due to hike of maize in upcountry regions.
Zablon Mlumbwa, the owner of Super Sembe Dar mill located at Gongo la Mboto said that they had to increase wholesale prices for that reason.
He said that a kilo of maize has suddenly increased from Sh. 450 to Sh. 650 in maize producing regions of Iringa, Morogoro and Mbeya and Ruvuma, on average.
The survey further noticed that retail prices for a kilogramme of a maize flour stood at Sh. 1,000 and Sh. 1,300 after remaining at Sh. 700/- and Sh. 850/- per kilo for the past month.
Contacted for comments the Director of Food Security in the Ministry of Agriculture and Coopeeratives, Kasrim Mbambo was not in a position to talks about the matter as he is currently on annual leave.
However the ministry’s Public Relations Officer, Richard Kaswaga said that during the month of April every year, reserves of the previous harvests gets out of stock, causing a shortage of maize in most markets.
The sudden high prices might have been caused by supplying maize outside the country as the government allowed traders to do so following excessive abundance of over two million tons of maize finding it hard to fetch a market and often rotting, he said.
The National Food Reserve Agency (NFRA) had enough food stock, in which case the government was confident that maize exports would not affect grain supplies before new harvests.
Allowing farmers to dispose of their crops as they wish was also a positive market signal which conforms to the Kilimo Kwamza initiative, the public relations official underlined.
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