Women in Sierra Leone have decried hike in prices of essential food items which are sold in markets.
Some women who spoke with our reporter in Freetown say prices for fish, pepper, and groundnut have hiked, saying dealers allegedly blamed the hike in prices on limited supplies in their warehouses and the closure of the border and the COVID-19 induced lockdown which disrupted major farming activities.
About 50 percent of Sierra Leoneans who live below the poverty line rely on fish for their protein.
Maria Kamara, a fishmonger, said that fish prices in Sierra Leone have risen sharply by 70 percent when compared to figures obtained five months ago.
She said that, In Freetown, for instance, Red Snapper is selling at Le550,000 per cartoon, while Shine Nose is selling at Le350,000 per canton. In March, red snapper was sold at Le 280,000 per canton, while Shine Nose was sold at Le 180,000 per canton. The smaller heap of fish which was sold at Le10,000 has risen to Le20,000.
According a housewife, Josephine Harding, the price of groundnut per cut was Le2,500 in March, but has risen to Le4,500 .
She also said that the price of pepper was Le1500 three month ago but has risen to Le6,000 per cup.
Harding said that rise in prices of local commodities has made life difficult for the ordinary Sierra Leonean at a time like this when over a million people in the country need food aid. She said the hike in prices of these essential commodities would impact negatively on nutritional intake of especially children and the elderly, and on household savings.
A source at the Ministry of Fisheries and Marine Resource who spoke on anonymity attributed the rise in price of fish to the limited number of trawler licensed to undertake fishing expedition in country. He said that there are about 70 trawlers which are operating in the waters of Sierra Leone, adding that not all of them could go on fishing expedition at the same time. He said that some have left the country because they could not meet the regulatory requirements. He said that this may be responsible for the low supply of fish stock in the market.
Saidu Kabia, deputy Harbor Master at the Tambacular Wharf at Aberdeen in the west of Freetown, said that government regulations sometimes resulting in fishermen catching little or no fish, thus causing some to go out of business and become jobless.
Kabia said that recently, the government has outlawed the use of monofilament fishing nets which they had been using, which he insisted had left the fishermen with few fishing nets.
He also attributed the rise in fish prices to low catch as a result of bad weather and over fishing of our fish stock by industrial trawlers.
Abu Bangura, a groundnut and pepper farmer in Kamalo, Sanda Loko Chief, Karena District, said that COVID-19 restrictions and lockdown hampered groundnut and pepper farming activities in that part of the country. He said that during the national and partial lockdowns, farmers in that part of the country that produce pepper and groundnut refused to undertake farming activities, adding that this has impacted the production of these crops.
A businesswoman, Isatu Kamara, attributed the hike in price of groundnut to the closure of the Sierra Leone/Guinea border. She said that Guinea is the main source for the supply of groundnut to Sierra Leone. She said that since the closure of the border traders were unable to get supply from Guinea.