BITTER TRUTH: Why Eggs are so cheap in Kenya

Ever wondered why Eggs are so cheap in Kenya… It is simply because of the competition we face from South Africa. The eggs from South Africa gets into the Kenyan market at a value of 2ksh having paid tax, transportation cost and even paid the warehouse… We have a big market for the eggs but our farmers are fetching so little from the sale of eggs. Why? Is the question that runs into each and every farmer but today i have an answer for you

It might seem crazy to tell you that In South Africa there are layers that lays two eggs within 24hrs. The normal layer is supposed to lay one egg within the same period. What they do different from us is implementation and integration of what we all learned or what we already know

Have you ever heard of the term conditioning in biology and for the advanced it is psychology and physiology too. There are different types of conditioning but the most common are the classical or the pavlov and the operant conditioning. All this to me back in high school was Just a sweet story from my bilogy teacher but not when i saw it working and in action in SA. There they are using the concept to change the behavior of the layers when they are chicks. They are dividng the 24hrs in a controlled environment and they give the layers 6hrs of light and 6hrs of darkness and by the time the layers mature it has already developed an operant condtioned behaviour whereby it lays in the 12 hr period and also in the next 12hr period another one. If my calculations are right those are 2 eggs within 24hrs and due to the oveproduction they export their eggs to kenya at a very low price since one egg already caters for the expenses and the other one is the profit

Now this are the maths. In Kenya when we sell those eggs to the local market if it is via a broker we sell at only 5 bob and 8bob and that is the most lucrative deal one can have in the market. When the eggs in the South Africa gets to Kenya it is sold at 2bob to the same vendor and the consumer gets it at around 13 or 12 bob… The production cost is not the same in both countries SA produces more and even at a cheaper price than the Kenya an we Kenyan farmers end up get peanuts while we have been milked all our cash to produce the eggs… In the pong run when the eggs get into the market they are selling at the same price but the brokers opt for the SA eggs more due to the cheaper price but will always buy for the Kenyan people so as to meet the demand. In conclusion market is there for the eggs but lets upgrade our production methods to remain competitive and to earn the value of our work

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[SIZE=6]From 320/-, Egg prices (per tray) in Kenya hits 280/- and still no customers. FIND OUT WHY[/SIZE]
READ HERE http://www.farmerstrend.co.ke/from-320-egg-prices-per-tray-in-kenya-hits-270-and-still-no-customers-find-out-why/

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Thought it was just hogwash, but yea I admit. But I blame the govt juu their import/export laws are so lax. They are frustrating our farmers.
Apples are grown in Kenya but kwa supermarkets the commodities stocked are from S.A too. Why? Its really sabotage tu. Our govt screws us daily

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I visited a chicken farmer and she told me brokers are bushing the price of eggs down. some are buying a tray for as low as 250/-.

very sad indeed

How come the price going up in Western. The price of eggs went up from 260 to 300 a tray. The reason I was given is “Hii mayai inatoka Uganda. Na sasa kuna soko Sudan. Tusipochukua na hiyo bei wataenda kuuza Sudan.” I don’t know how true that is. I did not argue with it.

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Most people complaining here are consumers, mnataka kuwe na restriction ya importing eggs ndio tukuwe tukinunua tray @ 600? Mnataka kuwe na mayai inatoka kismayu? Just like sugar, uki restrict imports, then force an un-naturally high price in the market, consumers wata suffer and the farmer will still not gain

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Waaah thats effed up bana. Kumaanisha in Busia all eggs are from UG and wale wako na soko its at a loss? Layer biz ni Hasara

Cant relate. I rear my own chicken

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you should have argued

mayai ya 280 crate mnanunua wapi yawa? nilinunua tray juzi tuskys 340
http://i.imgur.com/YPNqOfI.jpg

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hey there ex, si uniuzie crate mia ;);):wink: nimechoka na hizi za 340

Usinunue mayai supermarket. Nunua kwa depot. I don’t know about Nairobi but in Katch zi huletwa na lorry once a week.

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Picha ya pot potpourri

Look kuna some cartels pia zina haribu prices juu cost ya the food suplies za Layers iko high.

If the production costs (Layer feeds) went chini through us growing our own then something might give

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vitu za choo yawa

aaai hata heri kubuy moja moja kwa duka at 10

[SIZE=5]Shida ya Kenya is that farmers are on there own when it comes to protection from the govt, plus the same govt gives no support on matters fertilizer, farm implements etc. I had the same problem with onions for me to make a profit I had to sell for atleast 60ksh , thing is we are getting imports from Tz for less than 30Ksh ! how can you compete ? Don’t know if it’s true TZ get subsidized fertilizer, they have communal farms supported by their govt and the Kenyan govt allows this cheap imports through brokers, dosen’t matter how much you bitch the brokers have delivered their brown envelops to the house on the hill , nyinyi endeleni kupiga kelele !

Alafu kamwana anakuja kuni ita mundu wa nyumba wanting my vote ! fuck off ! [/SIZE]

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Ulikataa kunipea sub-title, sasa naona umegongwa dipo. A crate of eggs is supposed to go for 280/- at most.

Unless useme ya Tuskys ni boiled already na haina expiry date. :smiley: :smiley: :smiley: :smiley:

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[SIZE=6]From 320/-, Egg prices (per tray) in Kenya hits 280/- and still no customers. FIND OUT WHY[/SIZE]

The road from Nakuru town to Engashura, about 5km away, reminds one of some thoroughfares in Nairobi because it is smooth and well-tarmacked.

I take a turn off the Nakuru-Nairobi highway, on the road heading to Nyahururu, and then a turn right, and just past the Kenya Industrial Training Institute, my sweet story about the road network suddenly ends.

I join a rough path that leads me to Hilda Kimata’s poultry farm in Bahati sub-county. After about 5km, I pull up in front of a sky-blue gate.

The gate opens up to reveal a clean, cemented compound, dotted with flowers and fruit trees.

A large house sits on one part of the half-acre farm. Adjacent to the house is a wooden structure that is the Kimata’s chicken coop and store.

Kimata opens the door of the store to reveal hundreds of eggs in several trays.

“These are 600 trays, which is about 18,000 eggs. They have been here for over a week because I do not have market,” Kimata laments.

The farmer keeps 1,100 layers and collects about 950 eggs a day. However, for the past two months, Kimata has been struggling to find a market for her eggs.

She blames her predicament, which is also facing many other poultry farmers across Kenya, to increased cheap imports from neighbouring Uganda.

“I used to sell a tray at Sh320 about three months ago, but the price has been plummeting and now I have settled for Sh280 and people are still not buying,” she explains.

PLUMMETING SALES

She recalls that middlemen frequented her home, most of them riding motorbikes, to buy the eggs.

She also used to get huge orders from supermarkets and hotels, but things have changed.

“Only one supermarket ordered 100 trays last week after I reduced the price; the others seem to have found a cheaper supplier. I am worried,” says Kimata.

Besides the cheap imports, increased competition due to a rise in the number of farmers keeping chickens has compounded her plight.

“There is a big farmer who has set up base in Naivasha and he is producing eggs in large volumes and selling at Sh250 a tray,” says the retired agriculturalist, who has worked for the Ministry of Agriculture, the Anglican Church of Kenya and the National Council of Churches in Kenya’s agriculture department.

Kimata offers her layers commercial feeds, which have also pushed up her cost of production.

“I am hopeful that things will improve. I am not about to give up on poultry because I have invested a lot in it.”

Beatrice Kirui, a large-scale poultry farmer at Kiamunyi, Nakuru, is also reeling from losses.

“I have reduced my price per crate from Sh300 to Sh280, yet many clients want me to sell at Sh260.”

For more than a month, she adds, her weekly sales have halved from 600 crates.

She earns a modest profit by selling at Sh280, but, she notes, this is not likely to be so for small-scale farmers, who do not sell in bulk.

“Some of my clients have settled for the imported eggs but I have been lucky that my eggs are of high quality. But generally, my business is low.”

She wants the government to fight against illegal imports if it has farmers’ interest at heart.

According to Beatrice, Ugandan middlemen transport eggs to the border and sell to brokers, who latter take them to buyers across major Kenyan towns.

Nakuru County Poultry Cooperative Society has also been hit hard by the influx of eggs from Uganda. Chairman Patrick Kiogora says the cooperative used to sell an average of 500 trays of eggs daily mostly to supermarkets and hotels.

However, they are now supplying between 50 and 60 trays a day. According to Kiogora, an egg from Uganda retails at Sh7, compared to Kenya’s Sh10 to Sh12.

In April, he says, the association sold a tray of eggs at Sh320, but prices have been sliding, from Sh300, to Sh280 and to the current low of Sh250.

Kiogora notes that Uganda eggs are cheaper due to their low cost of production, due to affordable feeds.

“Animal feeds, in particular those for poultry, are not highly taxed as those in Kenya.

A 50kg bag of layers mash retails at Sh2,300 in Kenya. However, in Uganda, the same amount of feeds goes for about Sh1,800. Kenya imports most of the feed manufacturing ingredients such as soya and sunflower from Uganda and Tanzania, making them more expensive here than in the countries of origin, according to Kiogora.

The association currently has 260 trays in their shop, and farmers have to wait, perhaps for weeks, until all of them are sold before they bring in more.

UNSUSTAINABLE BUSINESS

He asked the government to regulate poultry imports from other countries to save the industry that supports thousands of farmers.

At Wakulima market in Nakuru, according to Bernard Ngugi, a poultry farmer, at least 6,000 crates of imported eggs are off-loaded every week.

Ngugi has been in the business for more than 10 years and said that before the importation of the cheap eggs, some which come from as far as South Africa, he was selling 30 trays raking in at least Sh8,000 a day.

“There is no point in rearing chickens, unless the government intervenes, I will have to look for something else to do because the business is unsustainable.”

Joyce Karanja, also a poultry farmer, says she is on the verge of losing her investment of more than Sh400,000 due to the imports.

Meanwhile, as she struggles looking for a market for her eggs, Kimata’s saving grace are her dairy cows. She keeps 30 dairy cows, Friesians and Ayrshires.

Two of her favourite cows, Luna and Susan, offer her an average of 32 litres of milk a day each. In all, the 13 lactating cows give her 150 litres a day.

“I would be getting more than 200 litres daily from the same number of cows but the dry spell has affected fodder production,” she says. “I have hay and silage that can last me for the next six months, but I have to ration it just in case the current dry spell worsens.”

She sells a litre of milk at between Sh47 and Sh50 to a variety of clients, who include her neighbours, hotels and middlemen.

“Unlike eggs, there is a ready market for my milk. I am glad that I did not put all my eggs in one basket,” says Kimata, 60, who holds an Msc in land and soil conservation and left employment in 2004 to farm.

Besides milk, she sells in-calf heifers at Sh120,000 each and cow manure for biogas production at Sh800 a tonne.

Kimata started the farming venture in 1991 with a cow to get milk for her family.

“I would also keep up to 500 chickens, a figure I have achieved by increasing them over the years,” says Hilda, who often hosts groups of farmers as far as Embu, Kirinyaga, and even Tanzania.

“If I am not earning from eggs, then I have the dairy unit, if not the cows, then I can make some income from training farmers,” says Kimata, who has four permanent employees living on her farm.

Geoffrey Kahuho, a programmes officer at Participatory Ecological Land Use Management, Kenya says value addition and diversification can save poultry farmers’ losses.

“Each farmer should be knowledgeable to foresee a possible market glut or add value to their produce, for instance, by packaging them attractively.”

Kahuho also urges farmers to work in groups to be able to ward off illegal imports that interfere with their markets.

He asked the government to regulate imports to ensure that what is produced locally is exhausted before any produce from outside is brought in.

“We must also embrace the ‘buy Kenyan, build Kenyan’ mantra in farm produce,” he says, adding that reduced tax on poultry feeds could help cut production cost.

Last week, acting Agriculture Cabinet Secretary Aden Mohammed said the government was planning to remove Value Added Tax on animal feed raw materials, which he acknowledged had pushed the cost of farming to worrying levels.

“My ministry is currently in negotiations with the National Treasury with a view to removing the tax on animal feeds, which contributes to 60 per cent of costs in agriculture,” Mr Mohammed told the 11th African Dairy Conference and Exhibition.

COURTESY: FARMERSTREND.CO.KE

sasa nilikuwa nataka kuanzishia mum hii biashara ya kuku but naona itabidi tusake idea nyingine