Informal markets exploring ways to survive tough times
It is seven o’clock on a sunny Friday morning, and a seemingly good day for business for Clement Chirombo. The vegetable seller operates from Msungwi market of Area 25, in Malawi’s capital city, Lilongwe.
As usual, Chirombo arrives at his market stall around 7 a.m to ensure he has prepared well for the day’s business.
Chirombo has different types of vegetables stocked up to be sold. On a normal day at the busy market, there would be many customers from different parts of the city coming to buy farm fresh and other food items, mainly for resale. But business has not been the same since Covid-19 broke out, and he worries he may not be able to clear his stock.
“It has always been a joy coming to the market very hopeful of making a lot of cash but lately this has not been the case. I am experiencing many challenges in trying to transport my merchandise here due to some restrictions that have been introduced to reduce Covid-19,” Chirombo explains. One such restriction is lower passenger capacity in public transport, which has led to an increase in transport costs.
Fear of Covid-19
However, apart from these, and other market challenges, Chirombo’s worst nightmare currently is interacting with his customers. Like many other traders, he fears getting infected with the virus in the busy market.
“On every market day I get to interact with different people who have also been in contact with several others since most of the customers who come here, buy from us to resell in their respective communities,” Chirombo explains.
When I ask why he is still carrying on his business despite these fears, he points out that he has no choice but to take some risks as he has to fend for his family.
“If I just stay home because there is Covid-19 out there then my family is going to suffer,” he says.
Keeping markets safe
It is not only small-scale traders like Chirombo, but the entire agro-food system that needs to stay afloat during the current crisis. For this to happen, it is essential to sustain informal markets by protecting the main actors in the sector.
So what needs to be done?
Chirombo thinks that increased regulation of markets can be one way of minimizing spread of the virus, and also prevent the loss of their merchandise, most of which is perishable.
“I wish authorities could assist us by providing new food markets for bulk selling in our localities for door to door sellers to buy from. This will minimize traveling for both the buyers and us bulk sellers,” he says.
“If this is done, someone staying in area 18 or area 49, will not have to travel to Msungwi market in area 25 or Wakawaka market to find affordable fresh food as these will also be made available in their areas, which means reduced movement and also costs,” he finishes.
Value addition as a new coping strategy
Some market actors have started to explore alternative methods to prolong the shelf life of their produce.
This can be seen in the recent surge of advertisements on social media, offering a range of processed products, such as tomato paste, sauce, chili, jam, and dried vegetables. Increasingly, farmers are realizing that adding value to farm fresh products, especially tomatoes, is a viable way to adapt to the current crisis, and reduce their losses of perishable farm products.
According to Albert Einstein, in the midst of every crisis, lies a great opportunity. Similarly, if authorities support these efforts by empowering smallholder farmers and other value chain actors, with the necessary technical know-how , equipment and also political will, Malawi could succeed in turning this crisis into an economic opportunity for its agricultural sector.
Written by Nellie Kanyemba
This article is part of Covid-19 Food/Future, an initiative under TMG ThinkTank for Sustainability’s SEWOH Lab project (https://www.tmg-thinktank.com/sewoh-lab). It aims at providing a unique and direct insight into the impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic on national and local food systems. Also follow @CovidFoodFuture, our Video Diaries From Nairobi, and @TMG_think on Twitter. Funding for this initiative is provided by BMZ, the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development.
