By Hassan I. Conteh

Sierra Leone is on acute shortage of vegetables and fruits on the markets.

A few of the fruits sold by traders are too expensive to buy by nationals, middle and high income citzens of Sierra Leone these days.

Almost every market in the urban you go to vegetables and local fruits are so scarce there.

This is noticeable in major towns outskirts of Sierra Leone capital city and is common to be noticed in the sub-cities.

If you ask any of the traders while going out to buy vegetable products in Sierra Leone’s markets, you will be shot to be charged high for as basic as a lemon.

Sierra Leoneans don’t grow fruits and vegetables these days like they do over the years.

Bo city, Kenema city and Makeni city including Freetown are becoming feared places to live now.

The nationals and citizens of Sierra Leone don’t only buy the fruits and edible leaves at expensive costs but sometimes couldn’t get to see some fruits and green eatable leaves sold in plenteous supply in markets in the capital and mini- cities and towns.

Sierra Leone’s nationals are the most affected since they go in more for fruits like bananas, plantain, oranges, mangoes, lemon, pinapples, plum, cucumber.

Asked for a plum these days you will be shot dead.

I attempted to ask for some ripe plums displayed on a rickety wilbarrow by a young man at Freetown Park market in  Waterloo, the guy told me each plum fruit costs Le 3,000.

That was on Tuesday September 19, 2013 when I dashed before that plum seller.

Prices of other fruits like plantain, cucumber and  oranges have forever ticked up.

A bunch of half a dozen of plantain is sold at Waterloo market for Le 50,000.

Sierra Leone’s plants root like cassava, potatoe, coco and yam cost Sierra Leoneans a lot of money.

A chunk of a yam is sold at about Le 60,000.

The price on root plants   varies depending on the size one asks for in the market.

Some chunks of yams are tagged Le 35,000 or 45,000.

Vegetables can be very expensive too especially during the dry season in the country.

Now, at a time of wet season (September) prices on vegetables are a bit stable as producers sell plants and fruits on markets across the country.

But the prices on vegetables for now are way higher than they were before two years ago.

And now tomatoe vegetables, pepper, garden eggs, onion, lettuce, cabbage, are less expenisve than they will tend to be by December, January, February, March, April, and May, June, and July this year.

By August prices on vegetables plummets as the harvest season enters.

That is the period when gardeners will always see the profits on their yields.

But since prices fall due to higer supply fruit and vegetable growers may not get more profits like they do  when fruits and vegetables scarce in the markets in the months of November, December, January, February, March , April, May, June and July.

But the maths is simple now.

Sierra Leoneans don’t do minus on prices on fruits and on vegetables and food under these hard economic times.

They add up the figures on goods and on all things they buy because prices go up and up almost on a weekly basis.

The maths is dictated by the inflation and the dollar rise against the domestic leone – skyrocketing currency exchange.

Sierra Leoneans , Indian nationals, Lebanese nationals, Chinese nationals, American diplomats, Australian  diplomats and the Turks in Sierra Leone,  investors,  British diplomats, Nigerian nationals, Gambia nationals and many more, now sing the same chorus song.

‘That things are never the same again in Sierra Leone.’