Panic in the market as dry spell suppresses food supplies
Thursday January 06 2022
Markets in Kigali is likely to face food shortage due to crop failures in the country's food basket. PHOTO | FILE
Consumers are staring at the high cost of staples after the dry spell suppressed crop production and food supply in key basket districts of Eastern Province.
Besides, the loss of the significant portion of the harvest implies local manufacturers and consumers will have to import grains to make up for the deficit domestically.
The government recently started distributing over 1,700 tonnes of food maize flour, rice and beans from the national strategic reserves to assist an estimated 36,000 families from the seven Eastern Province Districts following months of a dry spell that wiped out a big chunk of what they planted for the season.
The government said vulnerable families will get food rations every month as it monitors how the crisis evolves.
However, the famine has already sent panic to markets that relied most on supplies from the province around this time, and more specifically agro-processors for whom the affected areas are the country’s main grain basket and other staples.
Official figures show the seven Eastern Province districts Kayonza, Bugesera, Gatsibo, Kirehe, Ngoma, Rwamagana and Nyagatare account for over half of the national cereal production with 156,673 hectares cultivated in season A out of the total 292,831 hectares nationwide. Data from the seasonal agricultural survey by the national institute of statistics show Eastern Province grew maize on 119,447 hectares out of 236,642 hectares total maize plantation in season A last year.
Consequently, with the low September-December rains estimated to have resulted in wilting of up to 50 percent of beans, maize, and other crops across the province, there are fears the impact of the crisis will be widespread.
The seasonal agricultural survey data estimate the total area under irrigation in the affected Districts at only 14,694 hectares.
“The market prices have gone beyond the ability of many ordinary people. Maize flour is retailing at Rwf600 a kilo while beans is at Rwf500 a kilo yet this is the time harvest would be converging on the market both in quantity and variety hence stabilizing prices,” said Theogene Sebaganji, a farmer in Kayonza.
“Supplies are coming from other parts of the country at higher prices. So the market is not for everyone and food assistance only caters for a few families deemed highly vulnerable,” he said.