KAPENTA PRICE SKYROCKETS AS IT BECOMES A RELISH FOR ‘APAMWAMBAS’
Kapenta used to be one of the cheapest relish and was associated as being a relish for the poor. Tables have turned and now it’s more expensive than chicken and meat.
A meda of kapenta which we used to buy at around K80-K100 is now going at K300, which is equivalent to buy three chickens at retail price or six kgs of mixed cut meat in Mika butchery.
Chicken which was for the rich is now even more affordable. In the komboni what you spend on a meda of kapenta will get you 7 to 8 chicken ‘soup packs’ by “Supreme Chickens”. To try and bring down the price some traders are now mixing real kapenta from Kariba and Mpulungu with gonga poor quality types.
On the menu though it still has not taken the place of chicken or beef. It’s still in the lower brackets and hopefully with better weather production may rise and bring down the price