By Khalifa Hemed
Published April 15, 2020
Just a couple of weeks ago, a single piece of what is seen as being the most sought after vegetable–the tomato–in any Kenyan market, went for Sh50 (about US$0.5) in the Nairobi Metropolitan Area. Today, that fruit-cum vegetable without which no soup or stew is considered complete, goes for between Sh2 and Sh5 in the same area of the Kenyan capital. It is as if traders are trying to get rid of their now large stock of tomato that outstrips demand for this perishable commodity before it goes to waste.
Just what is happening here?
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A recent study of the market explains this strange phenomenon that sees traders and buyers snapping at each other over sudden surge in prices..
“The selling price of tomatoes fluctuates widely between high and low supply seasons,” writes Jane L Ogova, an agriculture expert who specialises in horticulture. The price, she writes in the study titled, ‘An Analysis of the Governance Mechanisms in the Tomato Value Chain of Nairobi County, Kenya’, “depends mainly on the supply situation at the markets, which is influenced by weather conditions and therefore seasonality and diseases among other factors, leading to high yield losses and scarcity of supply. Demand seems to be constant during the year with only a slight increase during major holidays time.”
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The aim of the study, the researcher says, is to ‘to identify the challenges in controlling the supply of tomatoes in Nairobi City County with the aim of formulating strategies for regulating supply’.
Describing trade in tomatoes as a ‘high risk and volatile business’, she explains that “poor control in the market supply results in alternate periods of plenty and shortage with corresponding price fluctuations over these periods.”
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The research recommends that the local Government of Nairobi City County “improves on its services provision at the markets” besides expanding and multiplying market infrastructure in conjunction with the National Government on the bandwagon of Kenya’s development plan known as Vision 2030 that is aimed at earning the East African country a Newly Industrialised Country (NIC) status in just 10 years away from now.
Involvement of the government, the researcher says, will “counter the poor market situation, overcrowding and challenging hygienic conditions” that currently dog the market.
Besides training players or stakeholders on ‘technical production’, ‘marketing issues’ and ‘value chain development and governance’ the researcher calls for ‘general public education on the importance of quality especially for the locally consumed fresh products which requires a national level approach’.
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Why?
Simply because the “tomato plays a critical role in meeting nutritional food requirements, generating income, and providing employment,” the researcher writes.
But just what has the study unearthed?
The results of the research “show that the value chain activities in Nairobi County are more concentrated at the traders to consumers’ levels with an insignificant amount of production being done albeit in both very small scale greenhouses and also open field. Within the two production system, higher yields were realized under greenhouse conditions hence the stress in promoting this system of production. Concerning the position of governance mechanisms and market control structures, the findings indicate a near absence of such regulations except the enforcement of payment of fees and other charges at markets. In return, the traders and other actors using the markets lack sufficient space, suitable infrastructure, and essential maintenance services. No quality management systems are present or followed either except traditionally known grading by size estimation and packaging in wooden crates.”
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![The most valid recommendation is for the [Nairobi City] county to formulate and establish policies, rules and regulation that will be used to govern the tomato value chain as well as put in place mechanisms to ensure adherence to these rules.](https://artmatters.info/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/Tomatoes3-300x225.jpg)
That “There is little governance in the value chain” is a problem whose solution lies in “major effort to first develop the chain, then establish the relevant governance structures,” the study says. “The most valid recommendation is for the [Nairobi City] county to formulate and establish policies, rules and regulation that will be used to govern the tomato value chain as well as put in place mechanisms to ensure adherence to these rules.”
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This study is available at Van Hall Larenstein University of Applied Sciences at Wageningen in The Netherlands.
In case you are interested in using it, you may send your requests for permission to:
Director of Research
Van Hall Larenstein University of Applied Sciences
Larensteinseweg 26a, Velp
Post Address: P.O. Box 9001, 6880 GB Velp
Tel: +31 (0)317 486299 / +31 26 3695695
web : VHLuniversity.com/.
