Annet Kyomuhendo, a charcoal dealer in Kigongi in Central division Kabale municipality says that she now sells a sack of charcoal at 30,000 from 20,000 Shillings and a basin at 6,000 from 3,000 Shillings.
Charcoal prices in Kabale district have shot up in the past one months.
A sack of charcoal that was once sold at 20,000
Shillings now costs 32,000 Shillings.
Annet Kyomuhendo, a charcoal dealer in Kigongi in Central division
Kabale municipality says that she now sells a sack of charcoal at 30,000 from
20,000 Shillings and a basin at 6,000 from 3,000 Shillings.
Kyomuhendo says that she was forced to
increase the price after her supplier from the neighbouring Rukiga district
also increased the price from 12,000 to 20,000 Shillings.
Jane Aturinda, another
charcoal dealer in the Garage Street Market in Kabale Municipality attributes
the increase of charcoal prices to the current high demand in Masaka and
Kampala. According to Aturinda, traders now prefer transporting charcoal
to Masaka and Kampala for more profits where they sell a sack at 50,000-70,000 Shillings after buying it from villages at 20,000 Shillings.
//Cue in “e basin 6000…
Cue out: …amakara kusha.”//
Simon Byamukama, the Executive Director of Let Us Save Uganda
(LUSU), a Kigezi based non-government organization advocating for environment
conservation says that an increase in charcoal prices is an indication that
the green vegetation especially trees which are the primary source of charcoal have been
degraded.
Byamukama however blames the government for failing to intervene and
make other sources of energy more available to the public. According to Byamukama, people
have stuck to the traditional means of using firewood and charcoal for cooking.
//Cue in: “ebeyi ya’amakara…
Cue out: …the price.”//
Achilles Byaruhanga, the Executive Director of Nature Uganda,
another environmental conservation non-government organization says that this
is the time for the government to start advising people to plant their trees
where they can get charcoal and firewood.
