Farmers in Bardhere market, especially women vegetable traders, are in despair after widespread flooding ruined around 20,000 hectares of crops.
Madina Mustafa, vice chairman of the local vegetable traders association, told Radio Ergo up to 500 women who normally sell vegetables have been put out of business. Only around 50 traders have anything left to sell in the market currently.
Fatuma Ahmed, a mother of eight, owns a four hectare farm in Bandar location, 3 km from Bardhere, which was inundated when the River Juba burst its banks.
“I planted tomatoes, peppers, onions, and other assorted vegetables. We harvested but everything was destroyed, it was all washed away by the floods,” she said.
Fatuma used to make around 150,000 Somali shillings ($7) a day at the market, which provided a substantial portion of her family’s upkeep. Her poor vegetable sales are only making around 45,000 Somali shillings ($2) now.
Dahabo Barre said prices had skyrocketed due to the current scarcity of fresh produce.
“A week ago a 20 litre bucket of vegetables was going for the fair price of 40,000 Somali shillings. That has now jumped to 200,000 Somali shillings,” said Dahabo.
