Shopping at Mokolo market may be difficult, especially for a new comer because of the vastness of the market and the variety of products on sale. From the northern section of the market to the south, east and west, food stuff are aplenty. Housewives from Nkolbisson, Cité Verte, Melen, Etoug-ebe, Chateau and the surrounding neighbourhoods throng the market every day - except Wednesdays when the market is closed for clean up - to buy fresh food stuff either directly from the farms or from villages around Yaounde. Evoudoula, Ntui, Sa’a, Okola, Nkolbisson and far off villages supply the market with food stuff.
The market is well constructed with stalls all over but the increasing number of vendors and the usual market strategy of ensuring proximity to customers have pushed most vendors to abandon the sheds and hang around strategic points where they can sell better. Reason why everything is found everywhere. Maize, cassava, onion, carrots, green beans, potatoes, plantain, cocoyam are sold everywhere, even along the main road at different prices, given that people of all walks of life visit the market. With FCFA 10,000 or FCFA 1,000, a customer is able to get something for the family, depending on their taste.
Different sizes of plantain cost FCFA 4,000, FCFA 3,500 and even FCFA 1,000. Those who cannot afford this find solace in retailers who break bunches into smaller sizes for as low as FCFA 200. However, poor quality plantain is sold at give-away prices. Irish potatoes cost FCFA 4,500 for a 15-litre bucket while small heaps are sold at FCFA 100, depending on the quality. Cassava is retailed at between FCFA 500 and FCFA 200 whereas by-products from cassava like garri, koum-koum, water fufu and starch, sell like hot cake. Traders told Cameroon Tribune that the prices and quantity of food items in the market vary with season. Like now that planting has just begun, there is no abundance of most food stuff but by August and September, the market will be inundated.
In our sojourn in the market, we noticed three types of dealers in food stuff: Those who come from the villages to sell what they have produced, some who go and buy from surrounding villages in large quantities and resell in the market and others who just buy from Mokolo and other markets in Yaounde to resell. According to Sandrine Ntouke, a market woman (buyam sellam) fondly called ‘Mammy Super,” all foodstuff traders in the market spend sleepless nights to get what they sell. People from villages and those who buy from there, she said, sometimes get to the market as early as 3 am to meet retailers who buy to sell later on in the day.
