The Danger of Decline of the Bureng ‘Luumoo’ There Is Need for Government to Intervene; Say Traders 
 
By Pateh Baldeh 
 
Traders at the Luumoo (weekly market) in Bureng in Jarra East, Lower River Region, have expressed concern over the dwindling nature of business activities at this hitherto popular trading centre.
 
Talking to this reporter, some traders explained that the Bureng ‘Luumoo’ started in 1985 and was one of the busiest in the country. According to them, the ‘Luumoo’ has in its heydays attracted a lot of vendors from far away places in the country and beyond, particularly the southern part of neighbouring Senegal (Casamance). 
 
Mafula Sanneh, Dam Njie and Mamadou Juldeh Bah, all long-time traders at the ‘Luumoo’, recalled the days when trade was booming. They explained that there is a marked reduction in the volume and size of trade, which they attributed to various causes, particularly economic hardships affecting the purchasing power of the farming population, demand for and payment of duties and other documents to the Council and village committee before sales are made and poor roads, amongst others. They said that apart from these obligations, traders are demanded to pay yearly dues, all of which impose a heavy financial burden on them. The traders explained that they are not in business to get rich but to make ends meet for the sustenance of their families. 
 
According to Touba Njie and Mamadou Barry, who are also vendors at the Bureng ‘Luumoo’, they are now losing their former position as a local trade hub in the area to another weekly market that is located just few kilometers away in the Casamance region of Senegal. They explained that this ‘Luumoo’ is now attracting many traders and customers from The Gambia and thus leading to the reduction of attendance and volume of trade at Bureng.
 
Many of those businesses that are affected by this downturn include restaurants whose sales have gone down as well. Restaurant owners such as Jarry Jallow, Hawa Jallow Mariama Jallow, Halimatou Bah and Mariama Mbenga have all complained that their sales have reduced substantially. According to these restaurant operators, they used to cook up to 10 kilos of rice per meal (lunch), but that now they don’t cook more than 3 or 4 kilos because of a drop in customers. They lamented the reduced volume of trade, especially at this time of the groundnut trade season which, according to them, used to bustle with activities in past years. The women food vendors, who said they assist their husbands in the upkeep of the family, noted that they are barely making ends meet. According to them they are not making much profit to tackle their families’ basic needs, considering the reduction of sales that is being experienced now.
 
They are also complaining about the lack of permanent structures to use as restaurants and are calling on the Area Council to build proper canteens for them to sell food.
Another group of vendors have also expressed their concerns to the reporter. Namina Kanyi, Metta Sanneh and others also concurred with the other vendors and added that the little they are earning from the dwindling trade is posing serious problems to them especially in the education of their children. These traders, who sell locally produced goods such as clay jars and pots, salt, coos, groundnuts and other grains, said what they get as profit is not sufficient to pay for the school and books rental fees of their school going children.
 
Some vendors also claim harassment from some officials regarding weighing scales a
They are all calling on the government to look into the economic decline of the Bureng ‘Luumoo’ and come up with measures that would help them to reverse the trend.
 
 
Editor’s Note
This is a new task for the Minister of Trade. The informal sector is the bastion of the rural economy. It provides farmers with a Sub-regional market to sell their produce. If Gambian weekly markets or ‘Luumoos’ are constrained by bureaucratic obstacles, it is the duty of Government to look into them and advise the councils accordingly. Otherwise, they become losers in sub-regional competition for markets for rural products. The rural economy is a key sector of the National Economy. A government which does not take the complaints of the stakeholders of the rural economy seriously cannot be serious about fighting rural poverty.





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