Vendors Voice Concerns
PRICE HIKES FROM WET WEATHER AND OTHER ISSUES MAKE THINGS DIFFICULT FOR SELLERS IN CENTRAL, WEST, NORTH
Market Vendors have vented out their concerns, regarding the cost of supply of produce and transportation. In such instances some market vendors are facing trials of paying transportation from their farms to municipal markets.
Suva
At the Suva Municipal Market, Sinate Bale has been a market vendor for more than 10 years.
She said for years it had been costly getting a supply of vegetables such as tomatoes and cabbage from a middle man.
Ms Bale said most women vendors work long hours, but their income is not steady.
Sinate Bale said:
▪ Past costs of goods - $30$40
▪ Current costs of goods - $60
▪ Past cost of seller’s table $10 a day
▪ Current cost of a seller’s
table - $19.60 a day.
She claimed most vendors’ savings were not secured during times of crisis, such as the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic.
From the month of January, Ms Bale has been struggling to pay for a spot at the Suva Municipal Market.
Another vendor, Pita Baleca expressed similar concerns.
He said the challenge lay in how vendors pay the middlemen.
“We are spending close to $100 a day,” Mr Baleca said.
He said the cost of delivering his goods to the market was determined by the volume of cargo loaded onto the transporting truck.
Nadi
Vendors at the Namaka Market have attributed the recent hike in the price of vegetables to the impact of floods and rainy weather throughout the Western Division. Laisani Vatuwaliwali of Legalega, Nadi said she had to increase the price of her lemons due to a decrease in quantity.
Laisani Vatuwaliwali said:
▪ Past costs of lemons - $2 per heap
▪ Current costs of lemons - $5
per heap “The price increase could be due to climate change and secondly there was a big shortage of lemons everywhere,” she said.
Fareen Azam said she normally manned her family’s stall which she co-owned with her husband and her father-in-law.
She sells English, purple and Chinese cabbage among the other produce.
“Before the price was $30, but the quantity now is less and expensive,” she said.
She believed a contributing factor was the heavy rain’s effects on crop farms.
“Cucumber is now $200 to $250 a bag then we sell individual cucumbers for $3 and sell them in heaps, would cost about $5. It’s like we’re spending $1000 a day to get our produce to sell in the market. At the moment, the demand is high but the supply is less,” she said. Another vendor, Isikeli Rasei of Natova settlement in Sabeto sells rourou.
“I think the price has gone up because the volume of their plantation has gone up. If you have a bigger farm then your production will be more,” he said.
“For rourou, it’s not about the rain. I think there are less farmers coming from Sigatoka valley are also why the prices are also going up because supply is less.”
Labasa
Meanwhile, flash flooding has certainly increased prices of vegetables at Labasa Municipal Market. “The continuous heavy rain has caused flooding in so many places including the farms where the vendors used to get their supply from such as Korotari and Vunimoli in Labasa,” said Labasa Market Vendors Association vice president Waisea Makulau.
The prices of green vegetables have tripled.
Labasa Market Vendors Association vice president Waisea Makulau said:
▪ Long beans $7,
▪ Cabbage $7,
▪ Tomatoes $3
▪ Eggplant $3,
▪ Chauriya $5
▪ Pumpkin $5.
Jag Dahi, 78, of Lekutu, Bua and residing in Siberia, Labasa said she has been selling for 40 years in Labasa Market.
“I have never seen so much rain in my life compared to what happened last month,” Ms Dahi said.
“Many green vegetables withered due to so much water on the farm.” The mother of five children said even though the farmers who supply vegetables sell at a higher price and she must cover that cost when she puts it on her table to sale. Another market vendor, Manjula Devi of Lagalaga, Labasa, who has her own farm, said too much rain over the past few weeks has affected her business.
“For six years I have been working on my vegetable farm and from Monday to Friday I sell at the market,” Ms Devi said.
“This is the only way I can earn money to have my three children to go to school.”
The 39-year-old mother said she has no choice but to sell at a higher price because in a day, she must fork out $13 for bus fare and $3 per day to wheelbarrow boys to help.