Despite expectations that food prices would go down at the end of last year after the start of harvest season, foodstuff prices in Kigali have continued to increase. Late last year, a kilogramme of maize flour was at Rwf500, but it costs Rwf700 today. A kilogramme of beans has risen from Rwf700 to Rwf800, while that of millet flour costs Rwf1,500, up from Rwf1,200 in December in Kimironko market. Cassava flour, which is used by many people across the country, is at Rwf400 per kilogramme from Rwf350 a month ago. The price of banana increased marginally. A kilogramme, of bananas has went up to Rwf180, from Rwf170, groundnuts and sorghum are at Rwf1,600 and 1,200 per kilogramme each. Sim sim goes for Rwf3,000, up from Rwf2,500 a kilo.However, the prices of meat and fish have remained stable across all the markets in Kigali, with meat at Rwf2,000 per a kilo and Rwf2,500 for a kilogramme of fish.Aline Nome, a flour vendor in the city, attributed the rise in some commodity prices to last year’s prolonged drought across the Great Lakes Region and export of foodstuffs. “Most of our food commodities are exported to other countries, creating scarcity,” she said.However, other traders said that the continued increase in food prices is because many youth have abandoned agriculture.The Food and Agriculture Organisation estimates that price index for food commodities rose by 2.2 per cent in the last eight months across the world.
