BUSINESS | MAIZE | PRICES

KAMPALA - Prices of maize in Kisenyi, one of Kampala city's leading maize collecting centres, had dropped to sh1,150 per kilogramme.

The drop in prices for maize grain has also had a multiplier effect on the prices of its byproducts.

Edwards Tatwale, a maize dealer and miller under the Mukwano Maize Flour company in Kisenyi, said the prices for maize and its byproducts started reducing towards the beginning of this year.

He said this was expected due to good harvests across the country attributed to the rainy season that covered a substantial number of maize-growing regions.

However, Tatwale urged the farmers to desist from selling raw maize as this deprived them of earning more from their sweat.

Edwards Tatwale, a maize dealer and miller under the Mukwano Maize Flour company in Kisenyi, said the prices for maize and its byproducts started reducing towards the beginning of this year. (All Photos by Samuel Balagadde)

He also said some unscrupulous farmers cut premature maize and force it to dry in a bid to tap into good prices as this compromises quality.

Kenya affecting prices

Tatwale said prices for maize could have dropped much more than where they are now if dealers were not exporting it to Kenya.

The price for maize flour has also gone down from about shillings 150,000 per 50kg bag to about shillings 120,000 in the recent past.

Maize bran prices drop by 50%

Maize bran has also dropped to about sh400 per kilogramme from sh800.

The drastic drop in prices for maize bran is partly attributed to few poultry farmers as many mainly those who keep layers dropped out of business due high cost of feeds yet the prices for eggs were low.

Solomon Male, the general secretary of the Uganda National Poultry Famers Network, said many poultry farmers dropped out of business because of loans.

"There are those who sold off their birds when they had just started laying eggs while others were due to lay eggs. Keeping 500 layer birds requires an investment of not less than shillings seven million up to the stage of laying eggs," Male said.

Prospective farmers cautioned

He added that the drop in the price of maize bran, which is the major ingredient for maize feeds, should not incite the public to invest in poultry as there are other challenges in the industry.

Chris Kaijuka, the chairperson for the Grain Council of Uganda, said the drop in the price of maize should not worry farmers as they still operate at profits.

He said the unit cost for the production of a kilogramme of maize is at about shillings 450 including all the expenses such as seeds, fertilisers and labour.

"Selling a kilogram of maize at an average of shillings 800, a farmer still breaks even though some are used to the abnormal prices that were brought about by the supply gap due to the recent dry spell that affected many farmers," Kaijuka said.