The market is reputed for large quantities of such food items.
Although Mokolo market is reputed for having a bit of everything, cocoyam, plantain, banana, maize, cassava, groundnuts and eru are some of the food items visible in large quantities there. Mrs Tawah Frida who has sold and bought in the market in the past 20 years told Cameroon Tribune that tomato is to Marché 8e in Yaounde what cocoyam, plantain, banana and eru are to Mokolo market.
Yam is sold in Mokolo at between FCFA 5,000 and FCFA 1,000 and even FCFA 500 while plantain prices range from FCFA 4,000 to FCFA 1,000 a bunch and FCFA 500 to FCFA 200 for smaller broken quantities. From the Madagascar entrance of the market (northern section), traders scramble to get as many customers as possible. Like Mrs Tawah, sellers and buyers alike told us that they leave other markets in the city to come all the way to Mokolo to buy plantain and banana from Okola, Ntui, Nkolbisson and its environs; and yam and cocoyam from Evoudoula and Ntui. Cassava is also aplenty in the market and thus its by-products like garri, koum-koum, bobolo, water fufu, starch et al. Eru from Sa’a is also a must-buy at Mokolo market.
In the sheds directly opposite Niki Super Market, market women with sharpened knives are often busy, slicing with dexterity the product which is increasingly being consumed in the city now. According to one of the women, Rachel, there are housewives and restaurant operators who either buy the sliced eru ready for the pot, or the bundle, unsliced type. While sliced eru is sold at FCFA 200 a wrap, a bundle can be given away at between FCFA 300 and FCFA 500. Maize, onions, groundnuts and garlic on sale come from the northern regions. A five-litre bucket of maize is sold at FCFA 1,300. Onion which is in season now goes for as little as FCFA 25 per fruit while a cup of groundnut ranges from FCFA 75 to FCFA 100. Irish potatoes come from the West and North West Regions.
Irrespective of the presence of cold stores in the market like Congelcam and smaller ones like Chaleur Africain, fish is one of the items competing for space with shoe and dress sellers in open air. In the centre of the market opposite DOVV super market, fish, pork and meat are sold in the open. Here, fish is not weighed as in cold stores but sold in heaps with prices going for as little as FCFA 250.
