Plate of pain: How 'sukuma ugali' became a luxury meal in 2025

A simple meal of ugali and sukuma wiki (kale), garnished with onions and tomatoes, may seem basic.

But there was nothing basic about this meal in 2025. In fact, if you could afford this meal daily in 2025, you would be considered relatively well-off.  

Analysis of data from the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS) by The Standard shows this was arguably the most expensive meal in 2025 compared to 2024.  

And it got more expensive if you garnished your sukuma wiki further with carrots, whose prices shot up 24 per cent in 2025 compared to the previous year.  

Furthermore, if you include a fruit such as an orange or mango after the meal, you would be in a league of your own.

While the price of maize flour was largely stable over the period, courtesy of the government’s continuous policy interventions, such as fertiliser subsidies, that of vegetables went through the roof.  

At one point, the price of tomatoes was 40 per cent more than in 2024. Cabbage, which has never gained the respect it deserves in Kenyan households, did not come cheap either. The price of cabbage shot up 27.1 per cent in January 2025 compared to the same period in 2024. A kilo retailed at Sh76.87. In February, cabbages were 22.1 per cent pricier compared to the same period in 2024.

“Notably, prices of tomatoes, onions (leeks and bulbs) and cabbages rose by 17.9, 6.8 and 5.0 per cent, respectively, between December 2024 and January 2025,” says the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS) in its January 2025 inflation report.

As government officials, led by President William Ruto, claimed that life had become more affordable, thanks to their policy measures, while quoting the stable inflation figures, a close examination of the same numbers reveals a different story. Life indeed became more unbearable for a majority of Kenyans. Perhaps the major reprieve witnessed was in fuel pump prices, especially kerosene, which is the primary fuel source for a majority of poor households.

However, items such as sukuma wiki, carrots, cabbage, and tomatoes – which feature on Kenyans’ plates daily – experienced a sharp rise in prices compared to the previous year.

Fruits such as oranges and mangoes also became unaffordable as their prices soared compared to the previous year (2024).

Most of these items recorded a double-digit increase in prices in some months compared to a similar period in 2024, further denting Kenyans’ pockets, who had to dig deeper to afford a decent meal.

For example, the price of a kilo of tomatoes increased by 40 per cent in September 2025 compared to the same period the previous year.

In that month, a kilo of tomatoes retailed at Sh86.88 compared to Sh62.06 in September 2024.

“In September 2025, prices of several food products recorded mixed changes. Fruits and vegetables such as oranges (5.6 per cent), mangoes (3.0 per cent), potatoes (2.6 per cent) and tomatoes (1.2 per cent) experienced price increases, with oranges showing the highest rise,” reads the Kenyan National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS) Consumer Price Indices for September 2025. In 2025, inflation averaged 4.1 per cent. This is well within the government’s ideal range of 5.0 per cent +/- 2.5 per cent.

The highest inflation figure witnessed in 2025 was 4.6 per cent, recorded in September and October. The lowest was 3.3 per cent in January.

The year closed with an inflation rate of 4.5 per cent. Across the year, the prices of tomatoes, sukuma wiki and cabbage were consistently higher compared to 2024, increasing largely by double digits.

In January, sukuma wiki recorded the highest increase in price of 31.2 per cent, moving from Sh63.19 in January 2024 to Sh82.93 per kilo.

Cabbage also went up 27.0 per cent in the same month to Sh76.87 per kilo, while that of tomatoes shot up by 21.0 per cent to Sh78.88.

In the same month, January, the price of a kilo of mangoes rose by 20.4 per cent from Sh99.76 in January 2024 to Sh120.14 last year.

In February 2025, tomatoes registered the highest price increase, by 29.9 per cent, compared to the same period in 2024, with a kilo retailing at Sh79.88.

This marks the largest drop in the price of a litre of kerosene, which decreased by 21.5 per cent to Sh152.18.

Sukuma wiki recorded the highest increase in March 2025, by 34.2 per cent, as a kilo went for Sh88.51 compared to Sh65.94 in the same period in 2024.

For maize, a staple in many Kenyan households often paired with sukuma wiki, it was more expensive in August.

In August 2025, the price of a kilo of loose maize was 19.7 per cent higher compared to the same period in 2024. A kilo went for Sh70.93 in August 2025.

A kilo of loose maize grain started the year at a lower price compared to the previous year. It was recorded as Sh62.22 a kilo in January, representing a 12 per cent decrease, and the price further declined by 0.9 per cent in March.

It then went up in May by 10.6 per cent to Sh68.49, in June by 15.1 per cent to Sh70.40, in July by 18.4 per cent to Sh71.24 and in August by 19.7 per cent to Sh70.93.

Similarly, the price of two kilograms of fortified maize flour increased in May 2025 by 14.0 per cent to Sh156.92, in June by 18.8 per cent to Sh160.22, and reached Sh176.32 in August, which is an 18.7 per cent rise compared to the same period in 2024.

Efforts by President Ruto’s administration to subsidise fertiliser to Sh2,500 per bag from Sh6,500 appear to be contributing to stabilising the price of maize flour.

The National Treasury’s Budget Policy Statement 2026 documents that, as a result of these efforts, maize production increased by 95 per cent from 34 million bags in 2022 to 67 million bags in 2024 and is expected to reach 70 million bags in 2025.

“The wholesale average price declined by 24.5 per cent from Sh4,729 per bag in 2022 to Sh3,568 per bag in 2024,” the document says.

Compared to 2024, the price of a kilo of carrots was higher in 2025 in June by 20.6 per cent when it retailed at Sh128.97 and in July by 17.7 per cent when it retailed at Sh128.08, reaching Sh131.21 in August 2025, which is an increase of 24.3 per cent compared to the same period in 2024.