Mwea Rice Glut
A government move to lower duty on imported rice to boost supply of the commodity is turning out to be a nightmare with Kenya's biggest rice production scheme tottering on the brink of collapse. Farmers in Mwea are said to be holding rice worth over 1billion shillings after an influx of cheap imports pushed their markets out of the market. The farmers have threatened to abandon the crop and switch to other crops if their plight is not addressed. Denis Otieno reports.
Comments
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@siasabora shyda sio eating onions, shyda niforming acartel kumanipulate prices za izo onions.
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@siasabora nope hoarding,only happens in kenya.countries have stringent laws against hoarding, kenya no1 really gves a shyt
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@madscientistify: Very good! Totally agree!
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@madsc: haven't read it....hoarding happens in markets all time. What is needed in Tz is information to farmers on price trends. Their media could help tell farmers Zimbabwe, Malawi or Ug prices.They can't eat all the onions! They got sell it. Uhuru must protect the farmer or he is out!
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@kushotto: It is ‘Protectionism’. India, SA and Pakistan will sell us maize n rice though grannie in Nyeri grows the same stuff. Now savvy this: You can’t export Omena or ground nuts to India or SA. Very Unfair. WTO is run by special interest groups, nothing ‘world’ about it. Our Trade Agri n Finance Ministers r puppets totally clueless and We, poor Farmers suffer as a result.
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@siasabora yep we must also ensure tht our farmers r protected, lakini they wil stil overinflate the prices ata wakipewa subsidies,
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@siasabora the mwea rice goes for arnd 160shsfor 2kgs.those pakistani thngs go for arnd 70 to 100 shs for 2kg.nt good quality sana, bt enaf to feed people.what ad say to uhuru is he shud try to find a way to reduce the cost of inputs
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@siasabora eh lemmie tel u somethng, av jst read on daily nation tht tz farmers have barred kenyans from purchasing their product close to the border.they r sayin that their kenyan counterparts hve formed a crtel that initially reduces the buying price for their onions.the problem is that kenyans cant produce enough of their own, oif they do produce enaf, they hoard some to raise the prices.am telling u wakenya hugongana vibaya sana, thts y uhuru doesn't gve a shyt.
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@madsc: Finance n Agri. Ministers are squarely to blame here. You don't overcome poverty by throwing your own farmers under the bus! You protect them with trade policies that ensure they're motivated n able to cover their production costs..in full!
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@madscI: Right. But what these farmers are asking is fair competition. They don't mind competing with locally grown rice. Imported rice is cheaper coz of > low quality >rejected n overseas farmers are heavily subsidized by their gov'ts. Recall Maize from SA?
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Is Uhuru watching this??
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They should brand these rice. The pishori rice from Mwea is of very high quality.
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@siasabora kenya is a liberalised economy, and they can't all the tyme kuwa wakilia oh close ths nd tht import, oh raise duty on ths import.haiwezekani
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@siasabora u cant blame the govt for everythng, these farmers am telling u charge extremely high prices for their goods, ni ma2 wakugonga wakenya wenzao sana.i rem 2kgs used to go 4 160shs.thts a freakin joke to the consumer.
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This is Uhuru's undoing. Farmers ought to load their Pishori Rice on trucks and bring it to him at Treasury Building. Only then will he get it.
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