Sukuma Wiki consumers in Kapsabet town will continue paying high prices for the famous vegetable delicacy as reports attribute high cost to continuous heavy rains experienced in the county.
Vegetable vendors in Kapsabet town market who spoke to KNA say the scarcity of Sukuma Wiki has persisted for the last five weeks and added that their suppliers complained of heavy rains which have destroyed their sukuma wiki farms.
The vendors complained that it was difficult to convince their customers to accept the new higher prices, a situation which has forced some of them to abandon the business.
Miriam Lagat, a vegetable vendor at Kapsabet town laments that the price of one bag of Sukuma wiki is currently going for Sh3, 000 from the initial Sh1, 000.
“Heavy rains experienced in the country affected the production of sukuma wiki. Our farmers complained of extreme flash floods and hail storms that destroyed their crop,” she said.
Lagat revealed that the sustained sukumi wiki crisis has forced them to source the now rare vegetables from Timboroa which results in high prices.
“We don’t know how long this shortage will last because we are still receiving heavy rains in Nandi,” Lagat added.
She praised government initiatives of planting trees as a solution to control current troubling effects of climate change which has affected production of food.
Nancy Chelimo, also a Sukuma Wiki seller, regretted that it was becoming difficult to convince customers to buy the heavily consumed vegetable at current hiked prices.
“I am losing some of the customers as it is hard to convince them of the new prices and may even go home without making a profit,” Chelimo complained.
She noted that Sukuma Wiki is widely consumed by locals because normally when prices are low, a bundle worth of Sh10 Sukuma Wiki is enough to feed a family of four.
But with the same prices remaining high more families will continue being hurt with already strained pockets due to the rising cost of living.
Chelimo proposed to the farmers to employ modern farming methods that are not adversely affected by the unpredictable weather conditions so that reasonable fresh produce prices are sustained in the market.
She added that there was also scarcity of tubers and leafy onions in the market which has pushed the prices to record high.
However, Joy Anyango, a grocery seller, who primarily deals in tomatoes, noted that prices have plummeted as recently they were selling three tomatoes for fifty shillings but now three can go for twenty shillings, or five shillings apiece, depending on the size.
Anyango attributes sustained availability of tomatoes in the market due to Greenhouse farming technology employed in tomato production.
But some other fresh produce, like capsicums and kales are rare and therefore expensive.
By Geoffrey Satia and Lilian Kangani
