The price of avocado, commonly known in Ghana as pear, has increased at the Tema Community One Market, selling between GH¢10 and GH¢30, depending on the size.

Avocado is a nutritious fruit eaten as a vegetable with delicacies such as yam, plantains or rice with stew, banku, kenkey with hot pepper, jollof, and bread, among others, in Ghana.

Other avocado lovers blend it with other vegetables like carrots and fruits such as bananas and nuts into smoothies to boost their immune systems. It is also used in cosmetic products.

Ms. Abena Yeboah, the avocado seller, said that previously four of the small ones were being sold for GH¢10, stating however that the prices of goods and services have risen, affecting the sale of avocados also.

Ms. Yeboah mentioned that the continuous increase in transportation fares was also a contributing factor to the increment of the prices, which she said cut across all markets in the country.

She noted that every avocado pear seller aims to sell the fruit at a fast rate because of its perishable nature; however, no seller wanted to sell at a loss.

Ms. Esther Kwakye, a buyer, refused to buy her favourite, lamenting that the prices were too high considering the sizes.

“Prices of goods at the Tema Market had always been outrageous for reasons best known to sellers,” she said.

She said prices in other markets in the neighbouring communities were better compared to the market in Tema.

Mr. Edward Kareweh, General Secretary of the General Agriculture Workers Union (GAWU), speaking with the Ghana News Agency (GNA) on the high cost of vegetables, attributed it to the illegal mining that had contaminated the arable land for farming.

He said that although natural factors such as changes in the season contributed to the prices, the bodies of water used to water the plants were contaminated.

He explained that these were due to failed policies that had worsened the situation.