Cereal prices fall over ample harvests

Dar es Salaam. Consumers paid more to obtain food commodities in August, this year, compared with a similar month last year, following the continuous decrease of prices in the market.

The decrease in prices, both wholesale and retail, is the result of improved harvests during this year’s season, which has resulted in a balooning of products in the market.

The Bank of Tanzania’s (BoT) monthly economic review for September has shown that wholesale prices of all major food crops were lower in August 2018 than that of the corresponding month in 2017, with the exception of potatoes.

The review indicated that maize and sorghum recorded a dramatic price decrease during the month in review, followed by rice.

The wholesale price for a 100kg bag of maize was down by 29.1 per cent to an average of Sh40,520.1 in August, this year, from Sh57,277.8 recorded in the same month in 2017, while sorghum prices decreased by 19.2 per cent to Sh80,448.4 from Sh99,516.4 in that period.

The report also indicated that, rice and beans prices experienced a minor decrease, dropping by 13.9 per cent and 5.1 per cent respectively to an average price of Sh146,181.4 and Sh153,880.6 on August 2018 from Sh169,735.9 and Sh162,133.6 recorded in the same period last year.

However, the price of potatoes increased by 12.9 per cent to an average of Sh79,721.3 in August this year compared with Sh70,609.6 in the corresponding month last year.

According to the ministry of Agriculture, the total area in the country planted with cereals was 8,638,771 hectares in 2017.

According to the ministry of Agriculture, the total area in the country planted with cereals was 8,638,771 hectres in 2017.

Maize covered 6,067,996 hectares, the largest portion of planted area, followed by rice (1,455,564 hectares), sorghum (835,042 hectares), bulrush millet (226,013 hectares), finger millet (32,364 hectares) and wheat (21,793 hectares).