Dr Jim Mcfie: Why maize is cheaper in Uganda than Kenya

Kenyans have recently opted for cheaper Maize from Uganda and other nations to mitigate the effects of the consistent shortage that has seen a rise in the cost of the commodity.

Dr. McFie claims that due to the high consumption of bananas, which is their main source of food, Ugandans rarely eat maize.

This then enables Kenyan traders to obtain the good in large quantities and at lower costs than the local market.

"Demand for maize in Uganda is much less than the staple food which is the bananas. This means that the demand for maize in Uganda is very much lower," he noted during an interview on Citizen TV.

Dr. McFie went on to say that Kenyan traders have encountered obstacles in the Kenyan market that make it difficult for them to make a living by sourcing maize products locally.

Apart from taxes imposed by the Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA), he attributed the difficulties to middlemen who raise prices when purchasing goods from suppliers, causing traders to buy them from Uganda.

"People in Kenya will go to Uganda to get maize, sugar and even Tusker more cheaply that in Kenya. The issue is the middlemen, they are the experts in giving the farmers a low price and demanding a high price from the consumer so we can eliminate them," he noted.   

"The point here is that we have taxes in Kenya which are not imposed in the same way, mind you KRA is a very efficient tax collector, but I think sometimes government puts targets for KRA which are way above what KRA can actually achieve."

To protect the country from the devastating effects of the shortage, McFie suggested that the government create a level playing field by imposing fair import duties on maize from other countries.

"We should be patriotic, we talk about a free trade area in Africa and I'm against that because we have to protect our farmers and industries in Kenya. We see it on the textbook but is it on the ground."