Gakoromone open air market traders have attributed shortage and high prices of farm produce to the prolonged October-December rains.
Speaking to KNA at the market Zipporah Mutua said the price of potatoes among other commodities had gone up at farm level due to unfavourable weather conditions during the October-December rains which left farmers with poor harvest, hence affecting supply against the available demand.
Mutua said she was in the business of selling potatoes in bulk to retail traders within and outside Meru County for over ten years, but she cannot compare her current experience with any other.
She lamented that the sacks she had expected to sell during the December and new year festivities were still lying in store, saying business dived with the end of the long end of year holiday.
The trader said that she is having very few customers visiting her store, adding that many people had directed the little money they had to ensure their children reported back to school by paying school fees and other school provisions.
Mutua said the cost of buying and transporting a sack of potatoes from the farm to the market was hitting slightly below Sh5000, making it very difficult to put a price for her customers who were used to buying a sack of potatoes at a wholesale price of sh.4300.
The businesswoman dismissed assumptions that those selling groceries have their business booming in the midst of the prevailing hard economic times, adding that they handle very delicate and perishable commodities unlike those in the hardware business among others.
She said those in the business of fresh farm produce usually take a very high risk of suffering unpredicted losses due to various factors including weather conditions.
By Makaa Margaret
