“Be ready to pay more for fufu” – Kejetia Cassava and Plantain sellers tell Customers

The Ashanti Man’s chief delicacies will not be complete if it didn’t have Fufu in the number one position.

Hitherto, the only way to muscle its ingredients – cassava, plantain, and cocoyam – into its plastic, flexible lump was by pounding.

This laborious process which earned it the name timtim fufuo, is now gradually being replaced with the Fufu pounding Machine which turns the staples into their final state without stress.

One area where fufu lovers are not seeing any stress reliever is the prices on the market.

Fufu lovers in the Ashanti Region will have to revise their spending plans or be ready to add more notes to afford their chief delicacy as the staples, Cassava and plantain have become more expensive.

At the Kejetia market where you would find the lowest food prices, the traders say people now buy as much as they can afford and not as much as will satisfy them.

Unlike a year ago when five cedis worth of cassava boxed with some ten cedis of plantain could prepare a decent-sized fufu capable of feeding six moderate stomachs; the cassava sellers estimate that a buyer will need to double this amount to purchase same.

“The little cassava there is five cedis. The one over there is ten cedis. The finger of plantain there is ten cedis. We cannot deny times are hard, “a trader spelt out pointing to her merchandize.

She continued, “If a family of six purchases 10 cedis worth of plantain and 5 cedis of cassava, you will not be satisfied. Today you have to buy 20 cedis worth of plantain and 20 of plantain and 5 of cassava”

The traders blame the trend on the season. They are optimistic prices of plantain especially will inch downwards when the bumper harvest starts in two months’ time.

“It’s seasonal. Prices will come down in two months’ time when there is abundance,” another trader explained.

The plantain and cassava sellers however warned customers should be expecting to spend even more if the prices of fuel continue to rise. They explain they are forced to pass on the cost whenever the drivers who convey the produce from the farm to the market charge them higher for transport.

“The drivers are charging a lot because fuel prices keep going up. My supplier from sefwi says her driver charges her 6 cedis per bunch. Some other charge 2 cedis per bunch to transport their produce to the market,” they complained.

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Other foods like Gari and Beans a.k.a. ‘gobe’, ‘et (‘and other foods that use plantain and cassava are also likely to be affected by the price hikes.

Source: Ivan Heathcote – Fumador