MOST of people r e m e m b e r March last year with mixed feelings, because that was the time the country announced that Covid-19 had entered Tanzania. All countries that reported cases of the virus suffered in many ways, including socially, diplomatically, and most importantly, economically, and Tanzania was not spared.
Among the sectors which were drastically affected by the pandemic included the business sector, where women are believed to be the pillars of local business.
It is estimated that 51 percent of women are in the informal sector, where they involve themselves in entrepreneurship activities.
Namanga and Tarakea are border areas, where a big number of women are involved in all kinds of business activities to earn a living. Florence Kaaya operates her business in Namanga, and she is quick to point out that before the outbreak of Covid-19, business was booming, because their customers mainly included lorry drivers who used the entry point.
She says that drivers heading or coming from neighboring Kenya were their biggest customers, but currently business is poor because most of the lorries have stopped due to the pandemic.
Aness Felician, a clothes vendor at Tarakea border post says that the pandemic has drastically affected their business activities, because it has reached a point where a whole day can go by without selling a single garment. She says that because of the decreasing number of clients, they have been forced to lower prices of their commodities, where a dress which she used to sell at 25,000/- is now selling at only 10,000/-.
A food vendor, Agnes Mihayo laments that although a human being requires to eat daily, her business has been affected because her customers lack money, which has forced her to reduce the price of her food.
“I used to sell rice and beans for 1,500/- per plate, but now the same plate goes for only 1,000/-, because most people cannot afford the previous price,” she says.
She says that at first shestuck to her price of 1,500/-, but her customers started disappearing, that is why she decided to lower the price so that she can make a profit of at least 2000/- per day.
Zaituni Mkama, a wood carvings trader at the Namanga area says that she decided to close her business and turn to selling food. “I was operating at a loss every day, so I decided to close it down and turned to selling food to the lorry drivers, because things were getting from bad to worse,” she says, which she says is despite the fact that the late President John Magufuli allowed businesses to continue operating even with the presence of the virus.
Wamboma Women’s Group which has 35 members involve themselves in poultry and vegetable farming, where they cultivate vegetables like broccoli, red cabbage, cucumber, cauliflower among others.
The group’s Secretary, Lucy Mmary says that before the outbreak of the virus, they used to sell red cabbage at 1,500/- to 2,000/- per kilo, while three large cucumbers used to go for 500/-.
“With lockdowns in neighboring countries, it means that business is poor, considering that most tourist hotels have closed down due to travelling restrictions, and they were our biggest customers,” she says.
She says that cauliflower which was sold at 1,500/- per kilo plunged to 500/-, while red cabbage which was sold at 1,500/- to 3,000/- is now sold at 500/-.
“To be honest this pandemic has spelled doom to our businesses, and has really dragged us behind economically and socially,” she says. Anastazia Mollel, another member of Wamboma groups says that there was a time their group suffered loss after more than 30 kilograms of beetroot rotted away because of lack of customers.
“We all know that it is only a few locals who consume beetroot, that is why our main customers were foreigners, tourists and tourist hotels,” she says, adding that other vegetables like broccoli and cauliflower are not used by village women, just like beetroot, that is why the Covid situation has messed them financially.
Anastazia laments that their capital has deteriorated, so when the financial institutions which lent them money started demanding for repayment of the loans, they found themselves stranded, while other lenders increased interest rate by up to 27 percent. Tanzania Women Research Foundation (TAWREF) Project Manager, Luililiel Mfangavo says the women in the group could not operate their businesses and pay back their loans during the Covid-19 pandemic.
“Most of them could not service their loans, so the best we could do was to encourage them not to give up and that they should stay safe and protect others from the disease,” she says.
The tourism sector which is the second largest GDP earner with 2.6 trillion/- was adversely affected by the pandemic. A tour guide who is a resident of Arusha region, Subira Ibrahim says Covid-19 has drastically affected majority of tour guides because they depend on the arrival of tourists. “Our job depends on visitors, when we offer them good services they reciprocate by giving us hefty tips, becauswe a tourist can part with as much as 100 or 50 dollars just to say thank you,” she says.
She says that the deteriorating number of tourists has forced many tourism companies to close down, rendering their employees jobless. Acting Arusha Regional Operating Officer, Emmanuel Mweta says they held a meeting with employers and employees and discussed how to tackle the challenges.
“The outbreak of this disease is not covered by law, it came unexpectedly and wreaked havoc in economies around the world, and for us we did not have a quick legal solution to deal with the challenge, that is why we decided to sit with employers and map out solutions to these challenges,” he says.