Business in Fundong, headquarters of Boyo division is seemingly on the fall with some traders decrying the rise in prices of some foodstuff such as palm oil, beans, tomatoes.
Edith, a trader in Fundong main market recounts her experience as a trader:
“With the rise in the prices of things like tomatoes with a basket costing F CFA 8.000, we only have to try and sell the way we can to our customers. Even though the number and sizes of tomatoes are not worth the price, I only have to sell what I can to make up for my buying price and a little gain. Customers may think it’s small as compared to the price but that’s the best we can do in relation to the price of a basket of tomatoes. Also, we try to balance up with the cost of transportation from Bamenda.”
Customers now tend to use canned tomato as substitutes for fresh tomatoes considering they have remained cheap.
Constance, a consumer of tomatoes says 4 medium sizes of tomato are now sold at F CFA 500 unlike before when same sizes could be bought at F CFA 200.
The fluctuation in prices is a call for concern:
“The main problem is, we buy mostly from Bamenda since we don’t cultivate tomatoes here, so when we go to the market in Bamenda, we buy at the price the traders there sell to us” Edith, a trader at the Fundong market further explains.
“Transporting from Bamenda to Fundong is also costly, and since tomato is perishable, some of them get soft and bad on the road. When we finally reach the market, we get to select those which are not completely bad and we try to sell them first before we incur double losses.”
The general plea now is for competent authorities to see what can be done to put an end to the situation as soon as possible but while waiting, buyers and sellers will have to live with the current prices.
