Lango Web

By Omara Geoffrey in Apac, February 22, 2009

AS butcheries and livestock markets remain closed due to the foot and mouth disease outbreaks in northern Uganda, the prices of fish, chicken and eggs have skyrocketed in the region.
 
 “Our local chicken and eggs are more expensive,” Mary Akello of Good Feeding Hotel in Apac town notes. She said that a tray of 30 eggs now costs sh10,000, up from sh6000 last month. Broilers and eggs are scarce and costly across the country.

Despite this market opportunity however, production is not growing fast enough to meet the high demand, which explains the rapid shortage and price hikes.

Another hotelier from Lira town, Odongo-Atine said that a medium size cock now fetches sh35,000, up from sh10,000, forcing them to sell white meat dishes exorbitantly, scaring away customers.

Meanwhile, several butchers are tired of being idle with no source of income, forcing most of them to join others in fish mongering business. This has led to most landing sites of Lake Kyoga and Lake Kwania being flooded with fishmongers fighting over few fishes in waters.

Fish farmers in land could also consider the red meat lacking in the market as a blessing in disguise as their fishes attract lucrative prices. Some fishponds are booked to supply the products according to timetables.

Marriage ceremonies including weddings are usually shunned as ‘carnivores’ expect green dishes to be served.

“There is a serious indiscriminate fishing in lake waters leading to catching even immature fishes as prices go up everyday,” George Ojok said. A kilo of Nile perch now goes for sh7000, from sh4000 while a medium size tilapia sold at sh8,000, up from sh3000 last month.

Educational institutions in the region are getting tougher to convince students of pending lack of beef in the market. “We now painstakingly spend huge sums of money in buying fish and chickens for students’ change of diet. Students sometime fail to understand and threaten strikes,” Edward Ogwang, deputy headmaster Nambieso Agro SS explains.

As some school authorities tend to collude with desperate unscrupulous butchers and smuggle in meat for children to eat, they face it rough because students are aware of the quarantine slap in the region.

“We one time tried to get bull meat for our students but they refused to eat and we had to hurriedly prepare eggs and mix with beans. Schools in the region are in danger of economic crisis as all food stuff prices soar and looming strikes by students who fail to understand our problems now with the pending animal quarantine in place,” a headmaster who preferred anonymity explains.
 
Workshops and seminars are currently more expensive to organize in the region because the organizers have to dearly spend on chicken or fish dishes to feed participants.

People living with HIV and AIDS are also lamenting that it has become expensive and difficult to fatty foods for taking anti-retroviral drugs. “The drugs are very heavy and dry that require fats as accompaniments while swallowing them,” an HIV/AIDS patients notes.