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Banana prices high despite festive season end
2008-02-10 09:55:19
By Darius Mukiza
Residents of Dar es Salaam have continued to complain over the prices of bananas charged by the businessmen at Mabibo`s `mahakama ya ndizi`market.
``We thought the prices were higher because of Christmas holidays but the situation has continued. And this time the prices have gone higher than before.
It is possible that we shall end up not buying them,`` said Aisha Juma a resident of Mabibo. She said a bunch of bananas that used to sell for 5,000 shillings previously is now sold at 15,000 shillings.
Even the prices of pieces of bananas have been hiked up from 500 shillings per five pieces up to 600 shillings for four pieces.
A survey by this paper in other areas found the prices of bananas to be higher than that of Mabibo. At Tabata Mawenzi pieces of bananas differed according to grades.
The grades and their prices in brackets were as follows: three bananas (sh 250), one banana (sh 100), four bananas (sh 600) and five bananas (sh 600).
A seller of bananas at Mawenzi, Stephen Kagashi, said he was forced to raise the prices of bananas because due to high prices at Mabibo market. ``Sometimes I am forced not to buy them because customers are not buying them when prices go up,`` he said.
On his part, Moses John, a trader at Mabibo market said the prices have gone up because of heavy rainfall in Mbeya and lake zone regions from where bananas originate.
``Vehicles have been facing difficulties to penetrate in these areas although bananas are plenty there. We expect the situation to be stable after the heavy rainfall,`` he said.
He said comparing to the previous time where about 25 vehicles were unloading bananas daily, presently less than 10 vehicles come in daily.
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