Central region: Market centers for direct producer-consumer interaction open

Market centers in which producers and consumers directly interact, and thereby stabilize the rising price of fruits and vegetables in the Central region have been opened and began service today.
Asmara, 5 February 2011 – Market centers in which producers and consumers directly interact, and thereby stabilize the rising price of fruits and vegetables in the Central region have been opened and began service today.

Reports indicated that the price of fruits and vegetables has been skyrocketing due to the intervention of greed-driven businessmen resulting in market instability. Consumers and farmers told ERINA that the newly introduced mechanism is for the benefit of both parties, and that the price of various fruits and vegetables has already shown a 25% reduction compared to the price last week. They expressed conviction that the price would be further dropped in the future.

According to ERINA market research, a kilo of onion is being sold 12-13 Nakfa, tomatoes from 14-16 Nakfa, carrot 7-12 Nakfa, potato 18-22 Nakfa at the  Enda-Silasie market center, while tomato and onion have been sold at 8 Nakfa per kilo at Godaif marketplace and potato at 20 Nakfa.

The beneficiaries stated that the initiative taken is part of the ongoing endeavors to improve the people’s standard of living, and that the newly created atmosphere would enable them to obtain fresh fruits and vegetables of their choice.

The producers said on their part that they would now manage to sell their products in few hours thanks to the opening of market centers for producer-consumer direct interaction.

The head of the Ministry of Trade and Industry branch in the region, Mr. Yohannes Melake, pointed out that sufficient supply of fruits and vegetables have been created as farmers directly get involved in the market, which in turn leads to significant price reduction. Efforts are also underway to effectively organize the centers for still much better outcome, he asserted.