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With a current all-time high average inflation rate of 6.61% and a resultant 14.40% increase in the prices of food products, a merchant in Bamenda, Northwest Cameroon, is forced to ration everything, including cooking oil, to stay alive.
It is a cold and wet morning. Yet, Lambi Christain, a meat merchant, has to leave the warmth of his bed to face the cold head-on. It is a business day, and he cannot afford to stay at home because he has so many ‘mouths’ to feed.
“My day starts as early as 5:30 am. I’ve got to get out of bed early and go to the slaughter to acquire meat to grill and sell all day,” says Lambi, who is wearing a dark blue sweater with a butcher’s knife in hand and preparing the day’s stock to be grilled.
“Come rain or shine, I have to go to the butchery that early to acquire the ‘first cut’. Any delay might mean no business for that day because other vendors would’ve cleared off the available stock,” he says.
Cameroon’s inflation rate barely averaged 2.12 % from 2009 until 2022, when it spiralled to an all-time high of 6.61, as reported by Trading Economics and corroborated by the country’s National Institute of Statistics. Partly, the high inflation, according to an International Monetary Fund (IMF) report, is due to the “sharp increase in international commodity prices, especially for oil, fertilizer, and foodstuffs, accentuated by the Ukraine war.” On the other hand, the prolonged armed conflict in the country’s English-speaking regions codenamed the Anglophone Crisis, a conflict between Cameroon’s government and separatist movements.
The conflict, which escalated in 2016 when teachers and layers began protesting the deplorable conditions of the anglophone minority in a Francophone-dominated country, has since morphed into warfare badly hitting the economic and social life of the regions involved and, to an extent, the entire country.
Both crises, the increase in commodity prices in the international market and the anglophone crisis, have had a devastating toll on the quality of life for people in Bamenda, the headquarters of the Northwest Region and elsewhere in the country that is generally considered the breadbasket of Africa.
“It’s a dire situation for me. The price hikes are a daily reality for us here. Almost everything in the market has witnessed a price increase,” says Lambi. “Sadly, there’s no corresponding increase in salaries for wage earners nor an increase in profits for traders like me.”
The 37-year-old says his business has been hard-hit by a hike in wholesale prices. “My daily profit margin has dropped drastically,” he reveals. In the heydays of this business, I made a daily profit of FCFA4000 ($6). Today, I barely struggle to break even. My daily profit for the past two years has been FCFA1500 ($2.25), and it keeps decreasing by the day.”
“I’m only doing business today out of passion and I’m struggling to keep my clientele, many of whom have fallen out with me due to financial hardship and a drop in the quantity of meat I serve them,” he says.
“I’m aware the quantity of the meat I sell today is small as compared to yesteryears. However, I have no choice because the cost of production has increased with a rather further drop in sales and profit. Therefore, to break even, we have to play around with the quantity.”
Staying Afloat Amidst the Economic Tsunami
“I’ve been forced to make lots of adjustments to stay in business,” says Lambi. I had two employees who assisted me in this work. But owing to my dwindling income and profit, I’ve laid them off. He adds, “I can’t afford their paychecks anymore.”
Away from the contingency measures taken to keep the business alive, Lambi has been forced to adopt other measures to support his family running. “We use common palm oil with a lot of caution these days at home. You can imagine what that means,” says Lambi, with a stern look on his face and a heavy sweat breaking down from his forehead due to the intense heat from the fire he is using to grill meat.
A litre of palm oil today costs FCFA1200 ($1.2), while a litre of refined oil is FCFA1500 ($1.8). Lambi says his household of eight people consumes up to two litres of palm oil a week. Going by simple mathematics, it will take two days of his daily profit as of now, only to pay for cooking oil, not to mention other ingredients needed for an entire meal.
“We’re forced to swap meals every now and then. Going for what is available and in consonance with your budget is the way of life here, “he explains.”
Our quality of food has dropped drastically due to high prices. We may have the same quantity of food on the plate, but the quality is nothing to write home about. The prices have changed everything for us,” he adds.
“We’re merely surviving by grace. With the increase in prices, the cost of living is also on the rise. I used to stock food in the past, but as it stands, I barely try to get what the family needs for the day.”
Spiraling Cooking Gas Prices
Balancing the equation of food for his [Lambi] home might be tough, but it’s even tougher when it comes to cooking gas. Major cities across Cameroon woke up in October 2022 to the scarcity of cooking gas, pushing many to queue for days to get the commodity.
Shortly after the shortage was announced, the few vendors who had the product immediately increased the price. A 12.5kg cylinder of domestic cooking gas that was previously sold at FCFA8500 ($12.9) was now given out at a whopping FCFA15000 ($22.77) which is doubled the initial price. There is no standard price for gas, especially in rural areas of the country. Most often, the commodity is sold at breakneck prices, and the retailers’ only excuse is that they have to recover the cost incurred in transportation.
Tongues went wagging at such an increase, yet consumers had no choice but to purchase the product at such a price or go starving, especially for those who depend on it solely. Lambi says in the face of such exaggerated prices, the method of cooking in his home “has changed.”
“I can’t buy a bottle of gas at that price. I don’t see myself acquiring a bottle of gas for FCFA15000.”
Though the switch to other cooking methods might be difficult, Lambi says his family will have to get along with it. “My falling back on firewood as a cooking method will take my children, who’ve been used to gas, by surprise. Nonetheless, they will adapt over time.”
Comminuting Like Everything Else is Hard
Lambi lives 3 km away from his workplace. “Going to work these days entails boarding a bike or taxi daily. For over 10 years that I’ve been in this business, I went by taxi until the recent development where commercial motorbikes became commonplace.
I spent FCFA500 ($0.76) getting to and from work. “Sensing that it was a huge investment by the end of the month, I acquired a personal motorcycle to commute daily,” he narrates.
Getting the bike seemed like a way out of Lambi’s ordeals; like having to stand for hours to board a cab. But not for long. The bike is now torn to pieces. “There are days at the pump you can’t get the fuel,” he says.
Faced with such a situation, we resort to illegal fuel, which is not only of poor quality but is sometimes diluted with other products that cause my bike to break down easily.”
Besides the difficulty of fueling his bike, Lambi says the warfare in Bamenda sometimes forces him to park his bike at home for days.
It’s worth noting that throughout the lifespan of the Anglophone Crisis, motorbikes have been used by the warring factions to carry out attacks and kidnap people. To salvage the situation, government authorities sign orders prohibiting the circulation of motorbikes from time to time.
“During such days, staying alive is important, so I just have to park my bike at home and go on foot — spending more business time on the way,” he says.
Future Projects on Hold
In the past, I would save money to realize major projects but today, all the projects are on hold, says Lambi.
“I’ve seen people’s entire investments here go up in flames as a result of the armed conflict. Hence, I fear suffering the same fate — the reason why I’m not venturing into any project now. “
All I do now is get a day’s meal, hoping that things will change for the better someday,” he says.
Until such hopes of a better state of things materialize, getting by with the current economic situation will continue to be an uphill task for many ordinary people.
By Akem Olives Nkwain
With a current all-time high average inflation rate of 6.61% and a resultant 14.40% increase in the prices of food products, a merchant in Bamenda, Northwest Cameroon, is forced to ration everything, including cooking oil, to stay alive.
It is a cold and wet morning. Yet, Lambi Christain, a meat merchant, has to leave the warmth of his bed to face the cold head-on. It is a business day, and he cannot afford to stay at home because he has so many ‘mouths’ to feed.
“My day starts as early as 5:30 am. I’ve got to get out of bed early and go to the slaughter to acquire meat to grill and sell all day,” says Lambi, who is wearing a dark blue sweater with a butcher’s knife in hand and preparing the day’s stock to be grilled.
“Come rain or shine, I have to go to the butchery that early to acquire the ‘first cut’. Any delay might mean no business for that day because other vendors would’ve cleared off the available stock,” he says.
Cameroon’s inflation rate barely averaged 2.12 % from 2009 until 2022, when it spiralled to an all-time high of 6.61, as reported by Trading Economics and corroborated by the country’s National Institute of Statistics. Partly, the high inflation, according to an International Monetary Fund (IMF) report, is due to the “sharp increase in international commodity prices, especially for oil, fertilizer, and foodstuffs, accentuated by the Ukraine war.” On the other hand, the prolonged armed conflict in the country’s English-speaking regions codenamed the Anglophone Crisis, a conflict between Cameroon’s government and separatist movements.
The conflict, which escalated in 2016 when teachers and layers began protesting the deplorable conditions of the anglophone minority in a Francophone-dominated country, has since morphed into warfare badly hitting the economic and social life of the regions involved and, to an extent, the entire country.
Both crises, the increase in commodity prices in the international market and the anglophone crisis, have had a devastating toll on the quality of life for people in Bamenda, the headquarters of the Northwest Region and elsewhere in the country that is generally considered the breadbasket of Africa.
“It’s a dire situation for me. The price hikes are a daily reality for us here. Almost everything in the market has witnessed a price increase,” says Lambi. “Sadly, there’s no corresponding increase in salaries for wage earners nor an increase in profits for traders like me.”
The 37-year-old says his business has been hard-hit by a hike in wholesale prices. “My daily profit margin has dropped drastically,” he reveals. In the heydays of this business, I made a daily profit of FCFA4000 ($6). Today, I barely struggle to break even. My daily profit for the past two years has been FCFA1500 ($2.25), and it keeps decreasing by the day.”
“I’m only doing business today out of passion and I’m struggling to keep my clientele, many of whom have fallen out with me due to financial hardship and a drop in the quantity of meat I serve them,” he says.
“I’m aware the quantity of the meat I sell today is small as compared to yesteryears. However, I have no choice because the cost of production has increased with a rather further drop in sales and profit. Therefore, to break even, we have to play around with the quantity.”
Staying Afloat Amidst the Economic Tsunami
“I’ve been forced to make lots of adjustments to stay in business,” says Lambi. I had two employees who assisted me in this work. But owing to my dwindling income and profit, I’ve laid them off. He adds, “I can’t afford their paychecks anymore.”
Away from the contingency measures taken to keep the business alive, Lambi has been forced to adopt other measures to support his family running. “We use common palm oil with a lot of caution these days at home. You can imagine what that means,” says Lambi, with a stern look on his face and a heavy sweat breaking down from his forehead due to the intense heat from the fire he is using to grill meat.
A litre of palm oil today costs FCFA1200 ($1.2), while a litre of refined oil is FCFA1500 ($1.8). Lambi says his household of eight people consumes up to two litres of palm oil a week. Going by simple mathematics, it will take two days of his daily profit as of now, only to pay for cooking oil, not to mention other ingredients needed for an entire meal.
“We’re forced to swap meals every now and then. Going for what is available and in consonance with your budget is the way of life here, “he explains.”
Our quality of food has dropped drastically due to high prices. We may have the same quantity of food on the plate, but the quality is nothing to write home about. The prices have changed everything for us,” he adds.
“We’re merely surviving by grace. With the increase in prices, the cost of living is also on the rise. I used to stock food in the past, but as it stands, I barely try to get what the family needs for the day.”
Spiraling Cooking Gas Prices
Balancing the equation of food for his [Lambi] home might be tough, but it’s even tougher when it comes to cooking gas. Major cities across Cameroon woke up in October 2022 to the scarcity of cooking gas, pushing many to queue for days to get the commodity.
Shortly after the shortage was announced, the few vendors who had the product immediately increased the price. A 12.5kg cylinder of domestic cooking gas that was previously sold at FCFA8500 ($12.9) was now given out at a whopping FCFA15000 ($22.77) which is doubled the initial price. There is no standard price for gas, especially in rural areas of the country. Most often, the commodity is sold at breakneck prices, and the retailers’ only excuse is that they have to recover the cost incurred in transportation.
Tongues went wagging at such an increase, yet consumers had no choice but to purchase the product at such a price or go starving, especially for those who depend on it solely. Lambi says in the face of such exaggerated prices, the method of cooking in his home “has changed.”
“I can’t buy a bottle of gas at that price. I don’t see myself acquiring a bottle of gas for FCFA15000.”
Though the switch to other cooking methods might be difficult, Lambi says his family will have to get along with it. “My falling back on firewood as a cooking method will take my children, who’ve been used to gas, by surprise. Nonetheless, they will adapt over time.”
Comminuting Like Everything Else is Hard
Lambi lives 3 km away from his workplace. “Going to work these days entails boarding a bike or taxi daily. For over 10 years that I’ve been in this business, I went by taxi until the recent development where commercial motorbikes became commonplace.
I spent FCFA500 ($0.76) getting to and from work. “Sensing that it was a huge investment by the end of the month, I acquired a personal motorcycle to commute daily,” he narrates.
Getting the bike seemed like a way out of Lambi’s ordeals; like having to stand for hours to board a cab. But not for long. The bike is now torn to pieces. “There are days at the pump you can’t get the fuel,” he says.
Faced with such a situation, we resort to illegal fuel, which is not only of poor quality but is sometimes diluted with other products that cause my bike to break down easily.”
Besides the difficulty of fueling his bike, Lambi says the warfare in Bamenda sometimes forces him to park his bike at home for days.
It’s worth noting that throughout the lifespan of the Anglophone Crisis, motorbikes have been used by the warring factions to carry out attacks and kidnap people. To salvage the situation, government authorities sign orders prohibiting the circulation of motorbikes from time to time.
“During such days, staying alive is important, so I just have to park my bike at home and go on foot — spending more business time on the way,” he says.
Future Projects on Hold
In the past, I would save money to realize major projects but today, all the projects are on hold, says Lambi.
“I’ve seen people’s entire investments here go up in flames as a result of the armed conflict. Hence, I fear suffering the same fate — the reason why I’m not venturing into any project now. “
All I do now is get a day’s meal, hoping that things will change for the better someday,” he says.
Until such hopes of a better state of things materialize, getting by with the current economic situation will continue to be an uphill task for many ordinary people.
By Akem Olives Nkwain