The increase in produce prices is projected to continue in Ibanda, which will put more pressure on families and boarding schools.
Presently, mixed beans go for sh3,000 per kilogramme, up from sh2,700 during the first week of September. Traders buy mixed beans at sh2,600 from farmers.
Produce stores in Ibanda town currently sell a kilo of nambale, yellow green and short bean varieties at sh4,500, an increase from sh4,000 a month ago.
Groundnuts are at sh6,500 per kilo compared to sh6,000, while that of peas shed sh500 to cost sh5,500.
Cassava ranges from sh1,700 to sh1,800 a kilo compared to sh1,500 previously and maize goes for sh2,000, up from sh1,800 over the reporting period. The farm-game price for maize is sh1,750 per kilo.
Ezra Kiiza, a produce trader in Ibanda town, attributed the increase to scarcity coupled with high transport charges. Kiiza projects the price increases to continue over the next weeks and start to ease towards the end of November.
He explained that the produce presently coming onto the market is from bulk stockists and farmers who had stockpiled the produce in anticipation of good prices.
A number of restaurant operators interviewed say they have reduced on the amount of food cooked daily because clients have dwindled. The servings have also been slightly for them to return a profit.
