Prices of grasshoppers have drastically climbed the ladder and skyrocketed in Kampala and other towns in Uganda as citizen’s rush for the delicacy.
For instance, in Kampala a sack of grasshoppers is ranging from Ush350,000 to Ush500,000.
Due to its scarcity in the country, traders have raised the price of the delicacy to earn a profit.
The Ugandan scientific community, however, has concluded that the persistent rains are to blame for the bug shortage since they prevent insect breeding.
On the morning of November 22, 2023, a passenger service truck barreled along the Mubende-Fort Portal Road on its way to Kampala, laden with sacks of grasshoppers.
Consequently, many Kampala merchants have taken up the allegedly more lucrative grasshopper trade.
Nakasero market vendor Grace Nafuna said business was brisk since there were so many grasshoppers to sell.
I spent Ush450,000 on three bags of grasshoppers. Nafuna explained that she sets the price of a cup of raw insects at Ush10,000 to maximize her earnings.
She continued, “We expect prices to drop with the current increase in supply; a cup of fried grasshoppers currently costs between Ush18,000 and Ush20,000.”
St Balikuddembe market prices were comparable, though slightly lower as vendors recognized a profit margin in selling insects.
Habib Kawemba, a market vendor, said she charged between Ush8,000 and Ush10,000 for a cup of raw insects.
Kawemba said that when the price of a sack of grasshoppers was between Ush70,000 and Ush100,000, merchants were losing money.
She noted that, originally they were incurring losses owing to increasing production that led to the markets being saturated with grasshoppers but customers were scarce.
However, Kamadi Katende, the chairperson of the Katwe Grasshopper Traders Association, predicted that the increased availability of grasshoppers in the market will lead to lower prices.
We’ve waited a long time, but if they keep multiplying at this rate, we’ll surely lose money.
This year, the insects have been spotted as far away as Kasese and Bwera, both in the Ruwenzori region. That means we’ll have higher transportation costs overall,” he said.
