(ERGO) – Dozens of small traders in central Somalia’s Galkayo are sitting idle without any income because supplies of fresh produce from flood-hit agricultural southern districts have reduced.
Habibo Abdi Adeed, 36, a mother of six children, has been struggling to make ends meet since 10 April when her small stall closed due to a lack of supply of vegetables from Beletweyne in Hiran region.
She sells bananas, coriander, watermelons, oranges, tomatoes, onions and potatoes among other produce in Galkayo and normally relies on the $5-7 she takes home a day to feed the family.
“The supply of vegetables has stopped. There has been heavy rainfall and roads have also been blocked. The lack of vegetables has affected us as we make our living from there. Now I stay at home, and have to support my family with loans,” Habibo said.
There are a few supplies of vegetables coming from Ethiopia although Habibo does not have a supplier from there. She said the prices of vegetables have skyrocketed, with a bucket of tomatoes doubling from $13 to $25.
Local farm produce from surrounding Mudug region cannot meet the local market demands, Habibo said. As her family’s breadwinner, she is worried about how she will pay her rent and children’s school fees of $35 a month.
“I’ve been buying food for my family on credit. We used to get the vegetables from Beletweyne and I would sell them and then pay the suppliers back afterwards. Now I’ve got $2,000 in debt from different suppliers,” she said.
Maryamo Said Dahir also closed her roadside stall in Galkayo due to lack of stock. She said she has never encountered such disruption in the nine years of selling vegetables. She has not been able to pay $12 rent for her business due to lack of income.
“We used to get a stable living, but our income has plummeted. I don’t have a job now, it’s just stopped. Somedays we earned $5, sometimes $10, and occasionally we fail to make any income at all,” she said.
Five of her children are in school. She has notified the school that the supply chain to her business has been disrupted and requested the school to allow her children to continue while she tries to raise the $45 fees.
She goes to the market every day trying to collect credit from her customers so she can prepare a meal for her children whom she raises alone.
“Just imagine what it’s like for a mother with responsibilities like mine because I have to provide everything. I am thinking about paying the teacher at school, the children’s medicines, and everything else, especially for me as a woman,” Maryamo said.
She has no savings and no skills to venture into a new business.
The chairman of Galkayo vegetable sellers, Gani Omar Barre, said 3,000 people like Maryamo and Habibo earn a living from the sale of fresh produce from Beletweyne. Since the floods in Beletweyne, they are out of income.
“These people have been faced with unemployment, both the wholesalers and the retailers have been affected. The porters who made an income carrying goods are also facing hardships. If the situation persists the people will be faced with more hardships,” he said.
Most of the vegetable sellers are people who were previously displaced by drought or conflict in their villages. Besides supporting their immediate families some support their relatives who remain in remote villages.
