 We come back to Y254 Business News. My name is Miriam Massava. And before we went on a break, we were asking you, what is your tomato experience in your area called? How much are you buying one tomato in your market? Yes, you can be part of this discussion using our social media platform that is Facebook. Our Facebook page is Y254. Twitter and Instagram are our handle is Y254 channel. The hashtag to use is Y254 updates or you can teach me directly at Miriam Anderson Massava. Yes, and to look into a final story, Matus Tomato is the price of tomatoes continues to go up in the country, leaving most Kenyans at the mercy of sellers for or forced to seek alternatives to the loud fruit. Venders in the local markets now sell one tomato for as high as 20 shillings or 15 shillings depending on the location and where the fruit has been sourced from. In Baringo County, the price of tomato has risen from 2,500 shillings per crete to 4,500 shillings following the scarcity of tomatoes. The high tomatoes prices have been blamed on the low supplies in the market occasion by the recent heavy rains witnessed across the country which does not offer conducive environment for tomato growth. Yes, moving on now onto discussion. I want to know how much you are buying tomatoes in your area called. But all we discuss is Andrew Shonko, a business analyst. Welcome so much, Andrew. Thank you. First of all, I want to know how much you buy one tomato in your area called. I think the issue of tomato is across the board. Yeah. Because even at my place where I am right now, you actually have to part with 20 shillings for you to get a tomato. And that means for you actually you have even to divide the tomato into two so that you can do lunch and another one you can do for supper. So actually the issue of increasing price of tomato is actually across the board. And this has actually been as the reason as to why this increase has been there is because we actually witnessed a very prolonged period of rain and actually tomatoes do not do so well with the very long periods of rain. So actually that is one of the reasons as to why the decrease in production of tomatoes and also that mean the increase in the prices of tomato. That means the increase in the prices of tomato. Well this tomato issue is touching on so many people. If I could just read some of the feedback and the comments. Yes, the hashtag to use is Y254 Updates. Our Twitter handle is at what for channel. There is one called Grace Rings which says there are no tomatoes in Kenya to Natua TZ. That's why in expensive transport cost. But my question is how did we get here? How did we get here that we are actually importing tomatoes? I think one of the reasons as to why we got in here and I normally say this that we are normally not proactive when it comes to tackling issues that deals with the common one inch or day to day living in our life and we normally reactive because we know so well and all the bodies that are involved when it comes to matters of agriculture in our country they know so well that tomato and other produce the basic needs do not actually over well when it comes to the issue of rain and we experience rain actually from the month of October, November, December and January which normally we do not experience rain. So this was actually going to happen and I don't think it's going to end anytime soon. So for me I think that is where we actually went wrong but we can see like we have alternatives people can actually look for alternatives you don't have to use tomato for you to cook and you can use alternative or even divide as I have said. Well the guys are complaining that alternatives are not nice like the tomato we are used to but there is one Edwin Kiraku who says I'm here trying to understand why the price of tomatoes in everything in Kenya has gone up. Now what does it mean for a common monainchi where the price of tomatoes goes up because this includes also inflation and it affects our food basket it affects our food security so what does it mean to a common monainchi? I think it means a lot it means like for you to be able to get a plate on your table that means you have to pat with more than what you've been paying for your plate of meal because if tomatoes prices are up that means even other commodities including maize flour including potato including onion because right now when you go to the market the prices of the onion are not actually how they are they are each and every day so that means for you to be able to get that plate on the table you have actually to pat with more than what you normally have to pay and this means that the demand has not changed because you find someone is in a family of let's say for example 4 to 5 children plus mother and father that means they actually have to dig more into their pocket and if you look at our economy right now the pocket that you are digging into it's almost empty so that means there will be a lot of challenges when it comes to even being able to eat healthy and that means at the end of the day your health is very important because it depends on the type of food that you eat the type of food that you'll be able to consume each and every day okay there is also another one who is called on Twitter Hasla Nation 2022 he says I agree that the problem with fresh food is in Kenya is logistics I am here buying 3 tomatoes for 50 shillings and the guy in the photo sorry let me leave it at that he is buying 3 tomatoes for 50 shillings and he is blaming it on logistics so I am wondering is the management the problem what is the issue really the farming process when it comes to when it comes to plantation the fertilizer used the pesticides used the method used the transportation the storage even transporting from the farm to the market what is the issue here where are we going wrong even as farmers I think I cannot really blame to farmers because sustainability is actually not a political choice it's not a technical issue but a political choice and the choices that we make when it comes to the issue of sustainability look at the process that is actually there for that farm produce to be able to get from the farm to the market look at for example right now the roads that they are using if you look at the type of roads that these farms farmers are using to get their produce to the market they are not actually looking very well so they have to struggle others are maybe you finding that there are some lorries that are actually stuck when they are trying to get this produce to the market and that means the whole logistical process of getting that product from the shamba all the way to the market is actually long and the longer the logistic process that means at the end of the day the cost the cost of that produce will be high if you also look again at the tomato it's a perishable good so for me I think we actually need to come up with systems that will actually be able to cater for these issues when they rise as time goes by all the agencies that are involved when it comes to the issue of agriculture and agriculture is one of the big four agenda of the current regime so they actually need to force and look into investing more when it comes to the matter of agriculture and ensuring that the common one the one Jikwa actually is able to get the food on their table in the cheapest way possible is there saying that Kenya of today tomatoes are now the same price as apples these guys are very funny how we make an issue to be so humorous really interesting but I want as we find I want to know right now actually we are actually importing tomatoes from Ethiopia but we've never had cases even if it's there it's very rare the amount of the products we export is less than what we import what can be done to improve such scenarios I think that is one of the challenges that we actually have if we look at Kenya normal say Kenya is a land of milk and honey but this land is maybe in the wrong hands of people who are actually taking care of it because if you look at the climatic condition that our country is into you will find that there are people actually right now who are producing tomato and they are going bad because of the logistical process that I was actually telling you so we actually really need to invest into seeing these logistics are actually a bit cheaper invest in roads that this product is supposed to be ferried from the shamba to the market we also need to support farmers in terms of offering them with seeds because when they have seeds they can be able to plan them do a lot of trainings to them and also we can look into other measures such as drying drying these tomatoes because when they are dry they can actually be able to last long yes, final comments wait for it wait for it for this I think it's all about being able to know where you are because we knew this was coming and someone said budgeting is not asking where my money went is actually planning where your money will go into so as an individual because this is an individual level thing you actually need to look into your pocket and be able to manage your cash flow well all the agencies that are involved they actually need to up their game and be able to see that at the end of the day they have been able to support the farmer and that farmer actually feel the importance because you are getting people who are selling that product at a very low prices and the others are being discouraged even to continue doing the farming and so on well thank you so much thank you so much Andrew Shonko business analyst for making time to join us here on WCF for business desk well thanks so much for keeping us company here we are going to leave you with a conference organised by Kipra and University of El Dorit discussing matters big for agenda and what can be done to actually achieve the big for agenda thank you so much Kathuriya for preparing such an amazing feature story yes otherwise from me from my end my name is Miriam Asava good night and God bless you