On A recent data, the government has exported Miraa worth over 220 million to Somalia in just four days. This has been made possible by the opening of the Somalia market which has been of importancwe to the economy.
Felix Mutwiri, who is the head of Miraa, Pyrethrum and other cash crops stated how the country and exported over 81.4 tonnes of miraa to the capital city of Somalia, Mogadishu.
Last weekend the market resumed and out of the 22 traders, 19 signed up for permits and licenses to allow for the export of the industrial crops.
Felix Mutwiri said,” we have so far exported 81.4tonnes in the last four days and we expect the volumes to grow in the next coming days as more peoples are cleared to ship out our commodity.”
He.however, warned that anyone who intends to export Miraa without license or full government clearance will be sentenced to 3 year sentence in prison which equates to a fine of ksh,5 million.
Currently, a kilogram of Khat(Miraa) retail at 23 dollar which is equivalent to ksh.2,734. Before the market was stopped, exports to Somalia were retailing at 25 dollars which is equivalent to ksh.2,972.
However, the country Kenya is facing very threatening competition from Ethiopia. The country was still in business with Somalia even when Kenya was locked out of business,
According to Miraa farmers such as the Nyambene Miraa Trade Association there is sufficient miraa for export. This is a report that was given by their Chair, Kimathi Munjuri.
He said,”We have alot of Miraa right now in the farms and we can meet the market demand in Somalia.”
Kenya is also planning to expand its market to Djibouti this is because there are a lot of Kenyan Farmers who yse the miraa business as their source of livelihood. Currently Djibouti is being supplied by Ethiopia, however. there has been more demand than the supply.