Women lament as wheelbarrow pushers take over sugarcane market in Jos
Until recently the sugarcane business was largely dominated by women who were seen by roadsides displaying their product for sale. They normally sourced from larger dealers at the main sugarcane market or go to the local farms to buy.
The women then take the sugarcane to their respective localities where they display it by the roadside and wait for their customers.
However, all that seems to be changing as another group is threatening to take over the trade. This group is made up of young men who move round the town selling sugarcane in wheelbarrows.
This new group of sugarcane merchants that can be seen in various parts of the metropolis, cash in on some advantages they have over the women. First, they can move around the city thus meeting customers at their doorsteps and secondly, unlike the women, they peel the sugarcane making it attractive and easier to chew.
Justina Shagari, who sells sugarcane along Yakubu Gowon Way, Dogon Karfe, Jos, told Benue/Plateau Trust that she has been in the business for a long time now.
She said she chose to stay by the roadside because she did not have the strength to push wheelbarrow from street to street.
She admitted that the hawkers make more sales than them, adding that it takes her more than one week to sell a bundle, unlike few years back when she used to sell a bundle daily.
“If we women have the strength of pushing wheelbarrow we could have keyed into it since because people are patronising the wheelbarrow more,” she said.
She called on people to keep patronising them as they still apply best practices in processing and preserving the sugarcane.
Bash Iliya, who hawks sugarcane in wheel barrow, said most of them resorted to hawk so that they could make more sales.
He said it would be difficult for him to sell a bundle a day if he decides to stay in one place.
Another hawker, Ya’ u Umar, said another reason they were taking over the market from the women was because they make their product attractive to the customers. ``We peel it and wet it to make it more appealing to the customer.’’
However, some customers have raised health concerns over how the hawkers display their sugarcane. Some believe that the water used on the sugarcane may be from an unhygienic source.
“Most often people keep on complaining that the water we are using in washing the sugarcane is not clean. But all I know is that I am using tap water to wash the sugarcane. I get tap water where I always cut my sugarcane,’’ Ya’u countered the claim.
A customer, who simply gave her name as Florence, said she washed the sugarcane before taking it.
Patrick Gyang, said he prefers to patronise the women by the roadside because they mostly stay within the vicinity and prepare the sugarcane by the roadside where everyone sees them, unlike the wheelbarrow hawkers.
A nurse, Ndak Kizito, said the sugarcane sold in wheelbarrows is not healthy because it is moved from place to place attracting dusts and other dirts.
He said another unhealthy attitude was when customers touch the sugarcane in the process of buying.
Such practice, he said, is unhealthy, especially in this period of COVID-19 pandemic.