With these rains, you cannot pay labourers the normal Sh300 or Sh500 a day to harvest potatoes. He confirmed that before the rains, a sack was going at a wholesale price of Sh2,500 but due to the rains, the price has gone up to Sh3,000. George Mbakaya, an agricultural consultant explained that heavy rains are both a blessing and a curse to those in agribusiness. He, however, noted that farmers could maximise their profits by concentrating on crops that thrive in heavy rains such as bananas. Higher electricity cost and a rise in pump prices of petrol and diesel have pushed transport costs up.

Source: Standard Digital November 21, 2017 07:18 UTC