Farmers and food retailers are strained by high transport and input costs that are passed on to consumers, a new Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) survey shows, signalling sustained pressure on the budgets of households.
Transport and input costs are major determinants of total operating costs and directly influence final prices.
“The proportion reporting transport costs as a factor influencing retail prices increased to 89 percent from 83 percent in January 2025, as retailers and wholesalers were forced to travel longer distances to find supplies,” the CBK said in a report published on Thursday.
“The proportion of respondents citing input prices also increased to 82 percent in March from 75 percent in January as farmers adjusted their farmgate prices upwards to reflect the increased costs of inputs.”
The impact of high food prices is already being felt in the economy. For example, higher prices of sukuma wiki, tomatoes, and potatoes saw Kenya’s inflation rise to 3.6 percent year-on-year in March 2025, up from 3.5 percent a month before—the highest level in six months, a report by the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS) showed.
The KNBS data showed that a kilogram of sukuma wiki retailed at Sh88.51 in March 2025, up from Sh65.94 in March 2024, a kilogramme of tomatoes sold at Sh80.88 from Sh62.57 and a kilogramme of potatoes retailed at Sh126.48, up from Sh109.74 a year ago.
The 34.2 percent increase in sukuma wiki prices, 29.3 percent rise in tomato prices, and 15.3 percent rise in potato prices were the top factors driving the March 2025 consumer price index (CPI), as the rate rose for the fifth consecutive month.
KNBS noted that between February and March 2025 alone, Sukuma wiki prices rose by 6.2 percent, potatoes by 4.5 percent, and maize by 3.3 percent.
“The price increase was primarily driven by a rise in prices of items in the food and non-alcoholic beverages category (6.6 percent); and Transport category (1.5 percent) over the one-year period,” KNBS stated.
The latest CBK survey also highlights growing concern over the role of middlemen and brokers in shaping retail prices, noting that the proportion of retailers citing this factor grew from 71 percent in January this year to 75 percent last month.
About farm inputs, farmers singled out prohibitive costs of pesticides and certified seeds which they said has compelled them to either reduce the quantities purchased, utilise their own seeds, or buy low-quality seeds.
The CBK Agriculture Survey, which sought to establish the factors that influence prices of select items, however, observed that markets expect prices of fast-growing foods such as vegetables to decline this month on account of the onset of the long rain season.
Stakeholders citing impacts of adverse weather conditions such as drought and floods declined from 86 percent to 75 percent during the period, while those reporting on labour costs and supply chain disruptions remained unchanged.
The majority of the farmers sampled in the March survey indicated plans to expand the acreage of their crops in a decision largely driven by the expectation of favourable rainfall outcomes as well as the expected continuation of the State-backed fertiliser subsidy programme.
“The decision to change acreage was not just a function of expected rainfall. It was also influenced by other considerations such as the need for crop rotation, expected demand conditions, availability of affordable and quality seeds, and the cost of land preparation for the specific crop,” the CBK notes.
The government’s fertiliser programme has, however, run into headwinds in past months, with officials admitting in April last year that farmers had been supplied with sub-standard varieties of the vital farm input before momentarily suspending its distribution.
