Food is expensive in Buea!
By Shanta Sih
Over the years, Buea has been one of the best towns in Cameroon’s South West region, with one of the best universities and a conducive climate. People love Buea for its uniqueness and liveliness.
Living in Buea had never been expensive be it with paying rent or buying food items. Students could manage the little they have for a while.
Parents could feed their families without much stress since life was made easy.
But recently, students have been complaining, parents have been crying, visitors are leaving, and people are finding it hard to cope with the new Buea, where prices of goods especially foodstuffs have risen appallingly.
Usually, a liter of groundnut oil was sold at FCFA 1200, but now trades at FCFA 1500 and threatening to rise. A liter of palm oil was previously sold at FCFA 600, moved to, and now sells at FCFA 1200.
No one can understand how or why prices keep climbing. A cup of Egussi was sold at 300 and now 450. A bag of flour now sells between 11,000 to 17,000. Butter from 7500 to 11000. A packet of sugar sold at 800 now sells at 1000, while a packet of kitchen cubes was sold at 700 and now sells at 1000.
Beef that used to be sold for 1000, a quantity one could use for a single meal now sells for at least 2000, the list is long.
“I think there is definitely something wrong because I go to the market with 10, 000, I get home, and still cannot see what I bought. It hardly sustains me as a student for even a week to talk of a family” Carine a level 300 student, at the University of Buea told CNA.
Amid this, some farmers say they are not too worried about the hikes “At least it’s better for me because I am a farmer, I don’t have to buy most items like plantain, yam, vegetables and more because I cultivate them. I pity those with heavy families to feed, how they manage to buy” Pa Mboa said.
“As much as it hurts all of us, I gain from selling my vegetables and plantains since I cultivate them but I use all the money to purchase other food items for my children and me. I do not think we can do anything to save Buea from these rising prices because students keep adding up every day. Even house rents have drastically increased because of the population to talk of the exaggerated traffic” Mme Susan lamented.
Living in Buea, surviving in Buea, and being alive in Buea is a BIG FIGHT
