Consumers to pay more for yam

Maize also recorded an increase of four per cent to close the third week of March at GH¢5.00 per “olonka.”

Checks by Esoko Ghana revealed that cassava (fresh tubers) and tomato also increased marginally by three per cent gain each.

Both closed the week at GH¢6.50 and 6.90 per “3-4 tubers” and “medium size tomato tin” respectively.

Wheat also gained by a percentage point to close the week at GH¢12.50 per “olonka.”

Rice (local) and Soyabean dropped two per cent each. Both closed the week at GH¢7.70 and 6.00 per “olonka.”

Millet followed with a percentage point loss to close the week at GH¢5.20 per “olonka”.

Esoko Ghana’s check on the various markets further showed that the price for an “olonka” of maize gained by four per cent in Kumasi to close the week at GH¢5.20 and also gained by 25 per cent in Dambai to close the week at GH¢5.00, whilst in the other markets, the price remained the same.

A “medium size tomato tin” full of fresh tomatoes lost 20 per cent in Accra to close the week at GH¢8.00.

The commodity however made some gains in Kumasi and Takoradi, In Kumasi; it gained 23 per cent to close the week at GH¢9.00 with Takoradi also gaining 18 percent to close the week at GH¢12.00. In the other markets, the price remained the same.

Analysis of price change

Content Manager at Esoko Ghana, Francis Danso Adjei explained that the price of yam increased because “there is no pona in the system. So it is the few ones the farmers bring to the market that is being sold in the market.”

“We are still waiting for the bumper harvest. Tomato is also moving up, it means that the lot that were in the system from Burkina Faso is reducing so we are going to see more price increase in the coming weeks. With rice, the prices have gone down because there is a lot in the system from the north,” he added.