Food prices remain high on dry season regional demand

East African Business Week

Food prices remain high on dry season regional demand

Monday, 13 February 2012 07:50 Kenan Kalagho

DAR ES SALAAM, TANZANIA - Food prices in Dar es Salaam continued to rise despite the end of the festive season.
A random survey made last week by East African Business Week at the city's main market of Kariakoo in Dar es Salaam, revealed that there has been a sharp increase in prices of food produce since the end of the festive season. The survey showed that the best rice, which during the just ended season was being sold at TShs 2,100 (US$1.35) a kilogramme was now hovering around TShs 2,500 (US$1.59) a kg, whereas the lower grade rice that was previously sold at TShs 1,900 (US$1.22) a kg is now selling at TShs 2,200(US$1.35) a kg.

A customer weighs his options at one of the markets in dar es Salaam. (Photo by Kenan Kalagho)

There has been an increase in prices of commodities such as beans, spices, maize flour, meat and other essentials.
The prices of beef at many Dar es Salaam  butcheries also have shot up from the previous TSh 6,000 (US$3.87) during the festive season to TShs7,000 (US$ 4.45) a kg where as in other places like Buguruni to the outskirts of the city the price of beef has relatively gone down to the previous TShs 5,000 (US$ 3.18) a kg.
The price of maize flour on the other hand has gone up from the previous TShs 800 (US$0.50) a kilo to TShs 1,200 (US$0.76).
Mr Hamisi Mzee, a trader at the Dar es Salaam Kariakoo main market says the prices of food are being driven mainly by the high costs of living in terms of house rent and fuel as well as the country's bad economic shape.
"The costs of fuel and transporting these produce to Dar es Salaam is expensive and this leads us to increase prices as well, says Mzee.  "Even in the houses we are staying in the rent has gone up so high so that you rarely find a room below TShs 30,000  (US$19.10) a month.”
Speaking in Dar es Salaam last week, the Minister of State in the Presidents office,  Civil Society Relations and Co-ordination, Mr Steven  Wassira, said the prices of food in Tanzania were  a result of the increased fuel prices and the cost involved in transporting them to their markets.
"The prices of fuel are very high and these produce needs to be transported from their place of produce to find customers in the cities" the minister said. He said Tanzanians should also know that neighbouring countries like Kenya, Sudan, and Somalia which have been experiencing long droughts have driven the prices of food in Tanzania as well.
Wassira said Tanzania should produce more food in order to get the surplus which will have a positive effect in reducing the escalating of food prices in the country.
"As much as we need investment in agriculture sector, we need to focus on providing  support to Tanzanians so that they move out from the hand hoe system of agriculture to a modern large farming technology which will allow them to produce more food for business benefits," Wassira said.
Wassira noted other challenges like poor infrastructure that hinder the produce from reaching the market. "Tanzania produces more food in Rukwa, Kagera and Kigoma but there are no good roads that connect such places so that food produce can be transported to Dar es Salaam and or across other regions of the country."