Women invent local methods of preserving vegetables

Vegetable sellers, popularly known as “Bayam Sellams, have implemented strategies to prevent huckleberry from getting bad.

This invention comes in consideration of the fact that this class of vegetable nourishes the body with vitamins and is a traditional delicacy consumed by most villages in the Northwest like Bali, Nkwen, Ndop, Mendankwe, Mankon, Banso and Nkambe.

However, huckleberry, popularly known as ‘Njama Njama’ is supplied in diverse directions depending on the demand, taste and how it serves the population.

Recently, huckleberry dealers at the Bamenda Food Market adopted local methods for preserving their Njama Njama due to Global Warming which, in effect, causes heavy downpour that result in poor harvest, thus high prices.

In trying to maintain high profit as well as earn a living, Mary Bih Nforbi, a huckleberry dealer at the Bamenda Food Market, adopted a preservative method of spreading the vegetable on her table in order for fresh air to penetrate and prevent it from getting rotten.

Nforbi also told The Post that when there is high temperature, she covers the vegetable with a sack and sprinkles water on it. She added that, in booming periods, she sells three bags of 50kg per day and makes a gain of FCFA 3,000 per bag.

She added that she buys a bag for FCFA7,000 and sells in buckets making sure that she crosschecks the huckleberry thoroughly before handing the money to her supplier, so as to avoid selling rotten vegetable.

Contrary to this, Shetu Abdulahi, who is a vegetarian, told The Post that, when she buys her “Njama Njama she selects it, parboils it and keeps in a cold place if she has to eat it the next day, to prevent it from deteriorating.

She kicked against the sprinkling of water on vegetables because when a customer buys without knowing, it develops red leaves and loses it nutritional value, which is detrimental to the health of consumers.

Highlighting the importance of these preservation methods, another vegetable dealer, Ernestine Nahjella, said, even though in the rainy season when huckleberry is supposed to be cheap, there is a hike in price and shortage due to heavy downpour that leads to poor harvest.

“This is because, when water touches huckleberry, it can not stay for 24 hours,” she said posited. Thus, there is fluctuation in price; ranging from FCFA 2,500, 3,000 and 3,500 for a small bag. Despite the odds, she gains FCFA 2,000 per day after selling a bucket for FCFA 1,500, 1,000, and retailing some at FCFA 500, 300, 200, 100. In order to prevent damage, she has adopted the method of spreading her huckleberry in basket for air to permeate it, since it is a perishable good.

Reacting to this, the Food Market Njama Njama Union Vice President, Esther Nji, said they have cautioned their suppliers to deliver once a day and precisely in the morning period to prevent dumping. She emphasised that; “Only a supplier from a village whose special day (country Sunday) was on the previous day can supply in the afternoon. If not, the Njama Njama is seized, sold and the money put in the union’s coffers.”

Nji said their union is made up of 206 registered members, with the objectives of promoting solidarity, taking decisions on how to buy and sell their huckleberry, avoiding dumping, disputes and promoting a smooth relationship between suppliers, retailers and consumers.