PH Women Plan Alternative Stew, Shun Tomato High Prices

As the prices of fresh tomatoes continue to rise on daily basis, some women in Port Harcourt (PH) City and beyond have planned to move to alternative stew to sustain their families, pending when the prices reduce.

This was made known in The Tide’s chat  with some women resident in the city who lamented the high cost of tomatoes in the markets around them.

One of the women, Mrs. Ulunma Gift Ogbonna, said the price of fresh tomatoes has became something else all over the country, especially in PH, adding that she has decided to be cooking Banga (palm fruit) stew instead of using #8,000 to buy one rubber of fresh tomatoes.

Ogbonna noted that Banga stew is even healthier and that her family members are enjoying it which makes her happy.

She also advised other women to always seek for ways to relieve themselves of too much pressure when it comes to seasonal food and fruits.

“You can use palm oil to cook palm oil rice,  you can cook pepper soup with white rice, fried rice, vegetable stew and others that does not require fresh tomatoes”, she said.

Another woman at GRA, PH, Mrs.  Grace Green, lamented the high cost of fresh tomatoes, stating that her children are so used to fresh tomatoes stew which now cost up to #8,500, compared to #4, 500 for one rubber before now.

Green said tomatoes are actually expensive now, adding that if the costs keep rising, she will switch to the alternative, not minding how her children feel about it.

“I bought a small paint rubber at #8,500 recently after much plea, if the situation continues like this, l will put the buying of fresh tomatoes on hold”, she said.

On her own part, a food vendor, Madam Chinyeaka Chikwe, popularly known as “Madam Sharp Sharp”, said the cost of tomatoes is swallowing all her gains in the   catering business.

“We have not been finding it easy in the cooking business since this hike in tomatoe prices, and we cannot use alternative for the public. You cannot tell a customer that wants rice and stew to go for Banga or palm oil rice.

“Alternatives can only work for families, not food vendors like us who must cook all the different types of food for the different desires of their customers”, she said.