NAIROBI: Kenya’s Cabinet Secretary (Minister) for Agriculture, Felix Koskei, has told manufacturers in the country that the government will be forced to reduce the prices of foodstuffs if they do not do so willingly.
The drop in fuel prices and electricity charges has seen the cost of production being reduced and therefore the high cost of foodstuffs was unacceptable, he said when receiving the first consignment of 13,750 metric tonnes of fertiliser at the port of Mombasa Thursday.
Over the last two years, Kenyans have had to bear the brunt of rising food prices which has been attributed to the high cost of production resulting from the high cost of fuel and energy.
However, since the commissioning of the Olkaria 1V geothermal power plant, the energy cost has reduced by about 30 per cent while fuel prices have dropped to below the 100 shillings (about US$1.09) per litre mark in line with plunging world oil prices.
The price of food has, however, remained unchanged, prompting the government to call on millers to reduce the prices of foodstuffs to reflect the change in production costs or the government will compel them to do so.
Koskei said there was an expectation for a bumper harvest from farmers this year, since the fertilisers would be received in time for planting and would be sold at subsidized prices by the National Cereals and Produce Board (NCPB).
Two more consignments of fertiliser are expected in February with a total of 15,2000 tonnes of various types of fertiliser valued at 7.5 billion shillings (about US$81.75 million) to be imported this year.
