Preparations for Tabaski 2022
Customers and merchants are crying out for dear life in Solenzo
Monday July 4, 2022 is the last day of the Solenzo market, capital of the Banwa province before the tabaski scheduled for Saturday July 9. At the market, people are busy making their purchases, but on everyone’s lips, it is the high cost of living that is mentioned.
Monday July 4, 2022. Last day of the Solenzo market before the tabaski festival which will take place tomorrow, Saturday July 9, 2022. It is 8 a.m. Traders and populations jostle. Some for their business, others to snatch either a festive item or the sacrificial sheep. The market square, in this circumstance, is teeming with people. At the cattle market, the faces of the sellers are crumpled. The reason, the scarcity of customers. Souleymane Sangaré is one of them. He has been at the market for 8 hours, still holding his ram. Who bought it for him at the modest sum of 55,000 CFA francs? He asks himself, scanning the horizon without much hope. He wants dear life.
“Nothing is right. People don’t have money.” he convinces himself. However, he does not intend to sell off his ram in which he has invested a « fortune » for food and care products. Anzoumana Diané, a teacher who came from Bobo-Dioulasso for purchases, is also crying at the cost of life. “I came to get a sheep for my father. Prices have experienced inflation. The rams that were bought last year at 35,000 or 40,000 F, now sell for between 75,000 and 100,000 F CFA”he says.
Food at the expense of the party
In the big market of Solenzo, it’s the hubbub. Women from Bobo-Dioulasso, Bèna and those from the town of Solenzo are struggling to find condiments for the sheep festival. Olivia Kanzongo came from Bobo-Dioulasso to look for onions. “The price has gone up. I paid the box of onions at 350 CFA francs. Today, the cost of the same box fluctuates between 850 and 1000 F CFA”, she suggests. Customers and sellers accuse each other.
For the first, the sellers exaggerate the price of their products. The latter in return defend themselves by pretending that they are not making big profits in relation to their expenses. Bibata Drabo is a condiment seller. She exhibited cabbage, eggplant, zucchini. “We bought at a high price, so we cannot resell at a low price. If I offer a cabbage at 500 CFA francs, the women scream.
It’s not our fault either.”, she says. Clothing sellers say they are lowering prices to hope for customers. Despite everything, according to Mahamadi Sawadogo, the product is not popular. Instead of 4,000 CFA francs, he offers children’s dresses at 3,500 CFA francs. He believes that insecurity has contributed to increasing the cost of living. “Currently, a 100 kg bag of maize costs around 27,000 CFA francs. So many families would rather bet on food than buy outfits for the party”he points out.
Salifou OUEDRAOGO
AIB/Banwa