Ramadan: Many fruits, many losses at Kaduna markets

As expected during the fasting period, prices of fruits among other things skyrocketed, but checks by this correspondent who visited the Railway market in southern Kaduna, also known as Railway Station market, where fruits and vegetables are bought and sold in large quantities, however, revealed that prices of fruits have not increased.Our correspondent gathered that […]

As expected during the fasting period, prices of fruits among other things skyrocketed, but checks by this correspondent who visited the Railway market in southern Kaduna, also known as Railway Station market, where fruits and vegetables are bought and sold in large quantities, however, revealed that prices of fruits have not increased.
Our correspondent gathered that due to lack of space in the market to off load the ever growing number of vehicles coming into it to offload different varieties of fruits, a lot of them get rotten leaving the traders to incur losses.
The traders who spoke to Daily Trust seemed worried at the turn of events saying they now buy the fruits at small quantities so as to cut down losses which could not be unrelated to the pile of rotten fruits which could not be properly stored in the market.
A visit by our correspondent to the Kaduna Railway market, where fruits are sold at wholesale observed large quantities of rotten pineapples and paw-paw even though larger quantities of the fruits were being offloaded from about 10 vehicles from Benue State.
The market which was bustling with activities as buyers and sellers went aboutselecting fruits they want to buy or sell to customers from the 10 vehicles offloading variety of fruits amid an unpleasant smell of fruit that had gone bad.
The chairman of the Fruit Sellers Association refused to speak with our correspondent, saying “I do not have time to talk to you right now.”
However, Isa Sama’ila, a 22-year-old fruit seller, who has been in the business for the past six years lamented that the market is too small for the volume of fruits that is brought into it every day, especially during the fasting period.
“I have been in this business for the past six years and there has never been any expansion by the government in the size of the market and every day, more and more traders come into it to look for their daily bread.
“The government of Kaduna State should look at the plight of its citizenry and come to the aid of the market and the buyers and sellers because if it does not, the existence of this market is under threat,”he said.
He added that, “if government can establish a fruit processing company where fruit sellers can take their goods for processing into goods that can be preserved, it will go a long way in reducing the losses we have been incurring and it will also draw more people into the trade thereby creating employment for the teeming unemployed youths in the state which will in turn help in addressing the issue of insecurity.
“We are calling on the government to allocate a bigger piece of land for the market because it is too small and due to lack of space in the market where to offload the fruits from the vehicles, they get rotten even before they are offloaded and we have no option than to throw them away.
“The government has not ensured the availability of industries that can process the fruits and reduce our losses. If such companies where in existence, it will have in abundance the fruits it needs to sustain production. We want the government to, as a matter of urgency, establish a fruit processing plant or industry where our goods will be used and our losses reduced,”he said.
Asked on the loss he incurred, he said, “I bought fruits of N10,000 last week and unfortunately I could only have a turnover of N6,000 because some of my fruits got rotten and I had to throw them away and sold what was not completely rotten at give away prices. If there was a fruit processing plant, we would not incur such losses.”
On whether prices of fruits increased in the fasting period, he said, “before Ramadan we sold watermelon for between N150- N400 and it is still the same price, it has not increased yet the only challenge is the fruits that are rotting, people ordered for a lot of fruits to sell in the Ramadan but unfortunately I think there is no money in circulation, as  people are not buying as much fruits as we envisaged.”
On his part, the Assistant Secretary, Kaduna Orange Sellers Association, Muhammadu Sani, said the price of oranges dropped by about 5% this year’s fasting period.
He said, “a bag of oranges cost between N4,500- N6,000 depending on the size of the fruits but before the fasting period a bag used to cost N5,500 meaning it has reduced by N500. The sellers do not deliberately increase or reduction the price of their commodities unless of course there is a general increase in the commodity and the association decides to increase or reduce prices.”
On the challenges facing the market, he said lack of space is a major hindrance in the market. “Our members go as far as Tiv land in Benue State to get their commodities only for the fruits, on getting to the final destination which is the market, get rotten due to inadequate space to keep them.”
“In a day, about 10 vehicles loaded with watermelon and pineapples offload in the market and about four vehicles each carrying over 20 bags of oranges also offload. So when all these goods arrive at the same time, the market tends to overflow with fruits and some vehicles have to be put on hold till the next day before offloading which causes some of the fruits to go bad.
“The government should look into the plight of the people in this market and find a solution to our problems because we are contributing to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of the state and the country at large,” he said.