Fred Siminyu
Mayuge
The prolonged ongoing countrywide Covid 19 Lockdown has negatively impacted on food sales in Mayuge town forcing most traders to either lower the prices or fall out of business.
Affected are those who deal in perishable foodstuffs, fruits and green vegetables such as cabbage, sukumawiiki, sweet potatoes, cassava, green maize, passion fruits, jack fruits and tomatoes in the central market.
A courtesy call into the market will reveal heavily parked food stalls of near to decomposing fruits, foodstuffs and green vegetables.
Most stalls are however, out of operation because the owners have given up due to lack of customers.
Rubbish skips and dustbins over spilling with decomposing fruits, foodstuffs and green vegetables crowded with large green flies are now a common and normal scenery in Mayuge town.
The prices of fruits, foodstuffs and green vegetables have drastically fallen where a bunch of Matooke which used to cost twenty five thousand in January this year now goes at twelve thousand shillings only.
A kilogramme of passion fruit now costs three thousand shillings instead of seven thousand.
Unfortunately, instead of blaming the misfortune on the Corona Virus, the traders have turned all guns to President Museven and blamed him for prolonging the lockdown.
One of the traders, Hellen Kagoya, a dealer in matooke says last week she lost half of her stock worth over three million shillings when the matooke ripened due to lack of customers.
Kagoya like all her colleagues attributes the lack of customers on the high level of poverty caused by the lockdown and appeals to Government to end the lock down.
Unless President Museveni changes mind on the lockdown, I will soon like the rest of my friends close this business, she said.
