joto la jiwe
JF-Expert Member
- Sep 4, 2017
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Wadau, kuna mambo yananishangaza sana nikiifikiria nchi ya Kenya, wakati wakilalamika kwamba hawawezi kujitoshekeza kwa chakula kwa sababu ya kukosekana na ardhi ya kutosha, lakini vipi kuhusu Wakenya kutegemea samaki wa ziwa Victoria wanaotoka Mwanza badala ya Kisumu?, Kenya kunamatatizo gani?
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Isibania, a town on the border between Kenya and Tanzania, is about 450 kilometres south-west of Nairobi. On a good day, it is the busiest in Migori County.
The government in 2015 opened a One-Stop-Border Post(OSBP), part of the East African Community Protocol’s desire for easier movement of goods and people. That turned the town into a day-and-night hive of activity.
Those visiting the town are ushered into an evidently business environment by the ubiquitous money changers, always ready to convert one’s currency from either Kenyan to Tanzania or vice versa. There are food kiosks, bars and guest houses; routine establishments at border towns.
But the most booming business, according to locals, is the importation of cheap Tanzanian agricultural commodities and selling them on the Kenyan side at high prices.
Investigations by this writer have revealed that unscrupulous traders at the border point collude with police and customs officials to illegally import agricultural produce raking in huge profits while evading paying import duty. This in turn is nearly crippling agricultural production in the country as farmers' produce lack a reliable market.
Most of traders of farm produce including mama mbogas (vegetable vendors) in Migori County get their stocks from across the border. Some of the Tanzanian produce that have flooded the Kenyan market include tomatoes, onions, eggs, maize, finger millet, rice, irish potatoes, watermelon and pineapples. The traders maintain that the Tanzanian farm produce is cheap.
“Tanzanian tomatoes and onions are cheap compared to those from Kenya. That is why we sell them here. Our customers also like the bongo(Tanzanian) onions and tomatoes as they believe are naturally grown and of good quality,” says Jane Chacha, a trader at the bustling Isibania market.
The price of a 40 kilogram bag of Tanzanian onions sells for as low as Sh 3000 compared to Kenyan onions which go at over Sh 3600. A crate of Tanzanian tomatoes sells at Sh 3500 while in Kenya, it goes for between Sh 5000-6000.
Ms Chacha says that she is able to make an average profit of Sh 1000 per 40 kilograms of both tomatoes and onions. “This explains why I cannot sell Kenyan commodities,” added Ms Chacha.
Mr Jacob Mwita, a trader at Kehancha market, sells watermelon from Tanzania. He says he gets his supplies from a renown farmer in Tarime across the border. According to Mr Mwita, besides being cheap, watermelons from Tarime are big and sweet hence liked by scores of customers.
“The Tanzanian watermelons are cheap. A big Bongo watermelon(5-8kg) costs KSh 100, in Kenya it goes up-to Sh 400. With one watermelon, I can get up to Sh 400 profit when I slice it into Sh 20 pieces,” Mr Mwita said, adding that Tanzanian watermelons have longer shelf life compared to those from Kenya.
The latest addition to the growing list of agricultural produce smuggled from Tanzania is fish. Interestingly, Migori County is adjacent to Lake Victoria and fishing is one of the economic activities in the region.
However, traders have resorted to buying fish from Mwanza, Tanzania, as they are cheap. The fish are from Tanzania waters of Lake Victoria. A tilapia fish from the Kenyan side goes for Ksh 400-600 depending on its size. Tanzanian tilapia goes for as cheap as Ksh 200.
“It is very unfortunate that fish in Migori is very expensive yet we are close to Lake Victoria. We have decided to get fish from Tanzania as it is cheap,” said a fishmonger at Namba junction along Isibania-Migori highway.
Apparently, scores of traders here have taken advantage of the porous Kenya-Tanzania border to illegally import the goods. The writer of this report has established that the suppliers of these commodities have established illicit routes across the border which they use as entry points for the commodities.
The most common routes are at Sirare, a few kilometres from the OSBP. Other routes are Masongora, Nyamtiro, Borega and Ntimaru in Kuria East . The goods are more often transported across the border in the wee hours of the morning or late in the evening using motorcycles.
“It is not very hard to transport these goods across the border. There are established routes the suppliers use and they do it early in the morning and late in the evening in order to evade the police and customs officials. As a trader, I simply wait for my supplier to deliver the goods,” said a trader at Isibania market.
The trader, who sells Tanzanian eggs and rice, says should things change and the porous border is sealed, then he will close shop.
“I have never dealt with Kenyan goods. I make good profit with Bongo eggs and rice. If the situation changes at the border and things become strict, I will definitely close my business,” the trader said.
A crate of eggs smuggled from Tanzania costs as low as Sh 200. The traders sell up to Sh 400 on the Kenyan side.
To import agricultural produce, traders are expected to undergo a rigorous clearance procedure at the border point. Importers must first acquire a licence to import the produce before going through the whole clearance process.
The process begins with clearance with Tanzanian customs offices. On Kenyan side, the goods are supposed to through a thorough inspection to ensure safety and health standards.
The goods thus must be inspected by Kenya Bureau of Standards to ensure they adhere to health standards. The goods then go through Kenya Revenue Authority, which determines the import duty to be paid. All these services are under one roof at the OSBP
Traders say this is a tedious process that takes several hours leading to huge losses as the produce go bad. They have therefore resorted to using dubious ways of importing their merchandise without the relevant checks.
This writer caught up with one of the suppliers of Tanzanian agricultural commodities at the Sirare market in Tanzania. The supplier, who requested to remain anonymous, said Kenya is a huge market for Tanzanian agricultural commodities. He deals with onions, tomatoes and eggs.
“There is good business across the border. Kenyan traders like our produce here as they say it is cheap. They also say their customers like the quality of these commodities. That is why there is a booming business here,” said the supplier, who hails from Kenya but is based in Tanzania.
He said to take the goods across the border, one has to establish a ‘good rapport’ with the customs officials on both sides of the border in order to evade the bureaucracy and expenses involved in clearing the goods.
“We know how to deal with them so as to let us go about our business without going through the usual bureaucracy at the customs,” he said. He further reveals that they have to part with ‘little' money.
“Of course we cannot do without giving them something little. On a normal business day, I part with at least KSh 2000 to let my goods pass. I don’t usually mind considering the profit I make,” he added.
Some of the traders walk into Tanzania early in the morning to buy the goods and carry them in small bags.
Some of the goods such as rice, maize and beans are hidden in the trailers which are normally cleared at the border while disguised to be carrying other goods like cement. The trailers are cleared for one type of goods yet they have some of the agricultural goods stashed in them.
So booming is this business that pickup trucks fully loaded with the Tanzanian agricultural commodities are a common site along the busy Isibania-Migori-Kisii highway.
Some of the goods are ferried across the border on motorcycles and taken up by the pick up tracks and even saloon cars to be taken to other parts of the country. Some of the traders buy the produce, pack it and leave it to the motorcycle operators to cross over to them into Kenya using their “own routes”
Most of the goods are taken up to Nairobi’s Wakulima market, where they fetch even higher prices.
The business goes on in the full glare of police officers who more often mount road blocks on the highway. Some of the traders say the police both at the border and those manning roadblocks are well connected to the traders and are often bribed to allow the movement of the goods.
“This business has also made the police rich. They know the traders very well and get lots of money in bribes from them. The traders often say it’s much better to bribe a policeman than to pay customs duty for the goods. This makes movement of the goods quicker as they are perishables,” one of the renowned traders Migori said.
The trader said because they are ‘friends' with the police officers, they sometimes bargain the bribe and give out as little as Sh 500.
“Tumewazoea (we are used to them) At times we bargain the bribe and leave them with as little as 500,” added the trader who owns several pick up trucks for the brisk business.
Some farmers in Migori are crying foul for lack of markets for their produce hence negatively affecting their economic activity.
One such farmer is Mr Peter Chacha Mwita, from Kuria East. He grows horticultural crops but maintains that his venture has taken a turn for the worst as cheap Tanzanian produce continue to flood the market.
“Whenever I take my farm produce to Kehancha, Migori or Isibania I don’t sell much as there are cheap ones from Tanzania. I have currently slowed down on tomatoes, cabbages and onions,” said Mr Chacha.
The farmer says he is forced to look for distant markets like Kisii, Homabay and Nairobi which again are not reliable.
“Things are tough for me. I am more often forced to transport my produce to distant markets, which is very expensive. The government should do something to cushion us against these cheap imports,” added Mr Chacha.
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=====
Isibania, a town on the border between Kenya and Tanzania, is about 450 kilometres south-west of Nairobi. On a good day, it is the busiest in Migori County.
The government in 2015 opened a One-Stop-Border Post(OSBP), part of the East African Community Protocol’s desire for easier movement of goods and people. That turned the town into a day-and-night hive of activity.
Those visiting the town are ushered into an evidently business environment by the ubiquitous money changers, always ready to convert one’s currency from either Kenyan to Tanzania or vice versa. There are food kiosks, bars and guest houses; routine establishments at border towns.
But the most booming business, according to locals, is the importation of cheap Tanzanian agricultural commodities and selling them on the Kenyan side at high prices.
Investigations by this writer have revealed that unscrupulous traders at the border point collude with police and customs officials to illegally import agricultural produce raking in huge profits while evading paying import duty. This in turn is nearly crippling agricultural production in the country as farmers' produce lack a reliable market.
Most of traders of farm produce including mama mbogas (vegetable vendors) in Migori County get their stocks from across the border. Some of the Tanzanian produce that have flooded the Kenyan market include tomatoes, onions, eggs, maize, finger millet, rice, irish potatoes, watermelon and pineapples. The traders maintain that the Tanzanian farm produce is cheap.
“Tanzanian tomatoes and onions are cheap compared to those from Kenya. That is why we sell them here. Our customers also like the bongo(Tanzanian) onions and tomatoes as they believe are naturally grown and of good quality,” says Jane Chacha, a trader at the bustling Isibania market.
The price of a 40 kilogram bag of Tanzanian onions sells for as low as Sh 3000 compared to Kenyan onions which go at over Sh 3600. A crate of Tanzanian tomatoes sells at Sh 3500 while in Kenya, it goes for between Sh 5000-6000.
Ms Chacha says that she is able to make an average profit of Sh 1000 per 40 kilograms of both tomatoes and onions. “This explains why I cannot sell Kenyan commodities,” added Ms Chacha.
Mr Jacob Mwita, a trader at Kehancha market, sells watermelon from Tanzania. He says he gets his supplies from a renown farmer in Tarime across the border. According to Mr Mwita, besides being cheap, watermelons from Tarime are big and sweet hence liked by scores of customers.
“The Tanzanian watermelons are cheap. A big Bongo watermelon(5-8kg) costs KSh 100, in Kenya it goes up-to Sh 400. With one watermelon, I can get up to Sh 400 profit when I slice it into Sh 20 pieces,” Mr Mwita said, adding that Tanzanian watermelons have longer shelf life compared to those from Kenya.
The latest addition to the growing list of agricultural produce smuggled from Tanzania is fish. Interestingly, Migori County is adjacent to Lake Victoria and fishing is one of the economic activities in the region.
However, traders have resorted to buying fish from Mwanza, Tanzania, as they are cheap. The fish are from Tanzania waters of Lake Victoria. A tilapia fish from the Kenyan side goes for Ksh 400-600 depending on its size. Tanzanian tilapia goes for as cheap as Ksh 200.
“It is very unfortunate that fish in Migori is very expensive yet we are close to Lake Victoria. We have decided to get fish from Tanzania as it is cheap,” said a fishmonger at Namba junction along Isibania-Migori highway.
Apparently, scores of traders here have taken advantage of the porous Kenya-Tanzania border to illegally import the goods. The writer of this report has established that the suppliers of these commodities have established illicit routes across the border which they use as entry points for the commodities.
The most common routes are at Sirare, a few kilometres from the OSBP. Other routes are Masongora, Nyamtiro, Borega and Ntimaru in Kuria East . The goods are more often transported across the border in the wee hours of the morning or late in the evening using motorcycles.
“It is not very hard to transport these goods across the border. There are established routes the suppliers use and they do it early in the morning and late in the evening in order to evade the police and customs officials. As a trader, I simply wait for my supplier to deliver the goods,” said a trader at Isibania market.
The trader, who sells Tanzanian eggs and rice, says should things change and the porous border is sealed, then he will close shop.
“I have never dealt with Kenyan goods. I make good profit with Bongo eggs and rice. If the situation changes at the border and things become strict, I will definitely close my business,” the trader said.
A crate of eggs smuggled from Tanzania costs as low as Sh 200. The traders sell up to Sh 400 on the Kenyan side.
To import agricultural produce, traders are expected to undergo a rigorous clearance procedure at the border point. Importers must first acquire a licence to import the produce before going through the whole clearance process.
The process begins with clearance with Tanzanian customs offices. On Kenyan side, the goods are supposed to through a thorough inspection to ensure safety and health standards.
The goods thus must be inspected by Kenya Bureau of Standards to ensure they adhere to health standards. The goods then go through Kenya Revenue Authority, which determines the import duty to be paid. All these services are under one roof at the OSBP
Traders say this is a tedious process that takes several hours leading to huge losses as the produce go bad. They have therefore resorted to using dubious ways of importing their merchandise without the relevant checks.
This writer caught up with one of the suppliers of Tanzanian agricultural commodities at the Sirare market in Tanzania. The supplier, who requested to remain anonymous, said Kenya is a huge market for Tanzanian agricultural commodities. He deals with onions, tomatoes and eggs.
“There is good business across the border. Kenyan traders like our produce here as they say it is cheap. They also say their customers like the quality of these commodities. That is why there is a booming business here,” said the supplier, who hails from Kenya but is based in Tanzania.
He said to take the goods across the border, one has to establish a ‘good rapport’ with the customs officials on both sides of the border in order to evade the bureaucracy and expenses involved in clearing the goods.
“We know how to deal with them so as to let us go about our business without going through the usual bureaucracy at the customs,” he said. He further reveals that they have to part with ‘little' money.
“Of course we cannot do without giving them something little. On a normal business day, I part with at least KSh 2000 to let my goods pass. I don’t usually mind considering the profit I make,” he added.
Some of the traders walk into Tanzania early in the morning to buy the goods and carry them in small bags.
Some of the goods such as rice, maize and beans are hidden in the trailers which are normally cleared at the border while disguised to be carrying other goods like cement. The trailers are cleared for one type of goods yet they have some of the agricultural goods stashed in them.
So booming is this business that pickup trucks fully loaded with the Tanzanian agricultural commodities are a common site along the busy Isibania-Migori-Kisii highway.
Some of the goods are ferried across the border on motorcycles and taken up by the pick up tracks and even saloon cars to be taken to other parts of the country. Some of the traders buy the produce, pack it and leave it to the motorcycle operators to cross over to them into Kenya using their “own routes”
Most of the goods are taken up to Nairobi’s Wakulima market, where they fetch even higher prices.
The business goes on in the full glare of police officers who more often mount road blocks on the highway. Some of the traders say the police both at the border and those manning roadblocks are well connected to the traders and are often bribed to allow the movement of the goods.
“This business has also made the police rich. They know the traders very well and get lots of money in bribes from them. The traders often say it’s much better to bribe a policeman than to pay customs duty for the goods. This makes movement of the goods quicker as they are perishables,” one of the renowned traders Migori said.
The trader said because they are ‘friends' with the police officers, they sometimes bargain the bribe and give out as little as Sh 500.
“Tumewazoea (we are used to them) At times we bargain the bribe and leave them with as little as 500,” added the trader who owns several pick up trucks for the brisk business.
Some farmers in Migori are crying foul for lack of markets for their produce hence negatively affecting their economic activity.
One such farmer is Mr Peter Chacha Mwita, from Kuria East. He grows horticultural crops but maintains that his venture has taken a turn for the worst as cheap Tanzanian produce continue to flood the market.
“Whenever I take my farm produce to Kehancha, Migori or Isibania I don’t sell much as there are cheap ones from Tanzania. I have currently slowed down on tomatoes, cabbages and onions,” said Mr Chacha.
The farmer says he is forced to look for distant markets like Kisii, Homabay and Nairobi which again are not reliable.
“Things are tough for me. I am more often forced to transport my produce to distant markets, which is very expensive. The government should do something to cushion us against these cheap imports,” added Mr Chacha.
Operanews
Sent using Jamii Forums mobile app
