In the transition from April to May, farm produce prices experienced a notable surge, doubling across various food items, as indicated by a report from the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS) featured in Taifa Leo newspaper.
Specifically, onions, sukumawiki (collard greens), and potatoes observed upticks of up to 5.1%, compared to the previous month’s 5.0%.
The report highlights several contributing factors to this inflation, including elevated house prices, taxes, and escalating utility expenses encompassing electricity, gas, and fuel varieties.
During this period, the market price of onions escalated from Sh177.02 to Sh188.37 per kilogram, while spinach surged from Sh74.78 to Sh88.37 per kilogram.
Sukumawiki prices soared by 18.2%, tomatoes by 15%, and potatoes by 6.2%, as reported.
However, there were contrasting trends for certain staples, with ground corn flour, fortified corn flour, regular corn flour, and white wheat flour witnessing declines of 3.2%, 2.3%, 1.6%, and 1.3%, respectively.
In broader economic terms, the report underlines a collective 1.2% increase in housing, water, electricity, gas, and fuel prices during the same timeframe.
This uptick can be attributed primarily to a substantial rise in electricity costs, with rates for 200 kWh and 50 kWh spiking by 6.9% and 5.5%, respectively, according to KNBS statistics cited in the report.
Despite this overall trend, transportation costs registered a marginal uptick of 0.2%, buoyed by decreases in gasoline and diesel prices by 0.5% and 0.7%, respectively.
The data underscores the complex interplay of various economic factors influencing consumer prices, shedding light on the challenges faced by both producers and consumers within the agricultural and broader economic landscape of the country.
