A survey conducted by The Guardian across various food outlets in Dar es Salaam including the Buguruni, Tandika, Tandale markets, revealed that the worst hit crops are rice, beans, potatoes and onions.
At the Buguruni market for example, 100 kilos of rice sold for between 190,000/- and 200,000/- by comparison, last year the prices were significantly less, selling at between 120,000/- and 170, 000/-.
Similarly, the price of a bag of potatoes ranged between 80,000/- and 90,000/- while in the previous year during the same season it was between 70,000/- and 75,000/-.
Such is the fate of onions which are now sold between 150,000/- and 200,000/- while last year onions went for anything between 100,000 and 160,000/- only.A rice trader at the Buguruni market, George Munga attributed the supply shortage to floods which washed away crops in Ifakara and Morogoro, the key supply regions.
He said the price for rice per kilogramme now ranges between 1700/- and 2500/- yet last year, the price ranged between 1,200/- and 1800/.
“The price of most food items has gone up because of the rains which have destroyed roads,” he said.
“This is posing difficulties for trucks trying to reach the remote farms and so transport costs have increased which has impacted the prices,” he explained.
Another trader at the same market, Aisha Athuman who deals in onions said owing to the rains, she is solely dependent supplies from Singida only, with at least three supply regions cut out.
“We have been receiving onions from other regions like Tabora, Arusha and Iringa but we are now getting the produce from one region, Singida alone,” she attested.
“The rains have made it difficult for vehicles to reach the farms,” she lamented.
Rice merchant Kassim Hamad, this time from the Tandika market shared a similar ordeal, supplies have reduced down to only a single region.
“We are now getting rice from Shinyanga alone…it is because of the rains and poor infrastructure so the commodity is scarce,” he said.
In regular seasons, he said traders get rice from Mbeya, Morogoro, Mwanza and Tabora but; “we haven’t received quality rice from Tabora since December last year,” he said.
“We are getting little profit because of this,” he lamented.
“We buy the commodities at high prices, at the same time we spend a lot of money to pay for transport, in the end we make very little,” he explained.
Hamad also blamed transporters who use transportation costs as an excuse to increase the prices of food commodities.
He called upon the relevant authorities to take immediate action to stop the hiking of food prices on the pretext of increased transportation cost.
Mohamed Said, trader of onions and potatoes at the market said, the price of onions at that market has increased to 150,000/- and 200,000/- per 100-kilo just like it has at the Buguruni market.
Potatoes at the Tandika market have also shot up but remain slightly lower than those at the Buguruni market.
At Tandika he said the price per 100kgs is between 80,000/- and 85,000/- up from last year’s range of between 60,000/- and 75,000/-.
“Business hasn’t been good since January of this year… normally I sell a 100-kilo bag in just three days but now it takes a whole week,” the trader lamented.
Saidi called upon the government to improve upcountry infrastructures to simplify transportation of crops to major markets across the country.
Ali Hassan, a beans trader at the Tandika market said the price of beans was no exception citing an increase from between 1600/- and 1800/- per kilo last year to 2000/- and 2400/- per kilo this year.
He said they are now relying on beans from nearby Makambako in Njombe region while last year they were receiving beans from as far as Arusha and Bukoba.
Meanwhile, the situation was none the better at the city’s Tandale market where beans trader Sweed Bakari cited prices higher than all other markets ranging between 2000/- and 2500/- per kilo.
“The price was between 1600/- and 1800/- last year,” he said.
He too dumped the blame on transporters for hiking up prices on account of increased cost of operations despite the fact that oil prices have gone down.
“We expected to get a relief as the fuel prices dropped, but things have not been so…transporters have been hiking prices claiming that transportation cost has increased,” he said.
“The tendency has adversely affected the price of food commodities because we are now forced to buy at high prices,” he went on to explain.
Jacob Hamza another trader at the market said the rice per kilo sells between 1900/- and 2000/- yet last year it was between 1200/- and 1550/-.
“We now have Shinyanga rice only, while we used to have quality rice from Mbeya and Mpanda but these are no longer available,” he said.
The Annual Headline Inflation Rate for the month of March, 2015 was last week reported to have slightly increased to 4.3per cent from 4.2per cent recorded in February, 2015 and was associated to among other things, increase of food prices.
The overall index went up to 155.88 in March, 2015 from 149.49 recorded in March, 2014. Food and Non Alcoholic Beverages Inflation Rate for the Month of March 2015 increased to 5.9per cent from 4.9per cent recorded in February, 2015.
SOURCE: THE GUARDIAN
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