Barter trade takes root in remote West Pokot town
Beneath the Muino Hills in West Pokot County lies Tamkal town. Here, on Mondays, sellers and buyers are busy “weighing goods” using their eyes and hands.
But that is hardly the surprise in this remote town. Barter is king of trade here.
No cash is exchanged, but traders sell, and customers buy, thanks to the old barter trade system.
The rural market usually has a lot of activity as traders cart in bags of farm fresh produce, besides flocks of goats and sheep, and head of cattle.
Traders display maize, potatoes, tomatoes, bananas, millet, honey and livestock -- including goats, sheep, cows and pigs -- all ready for the booming barter trade that goes on here.
Women at Tamkal market in West Pokot where barter trade is currently the norm.
No money involved
Here, traders swap milk with honey while meat is traded for maize. A goat farmer goes home with a bag of millet -- no money involved.
That is the barter trade that you probably only read about in history books.
But here in West Pokot, the age-old practice is being touted as the solution to the pastoralists’ problem of acute food scarcity and loss of animals in times of drought.
Immediate solution
This is because while some areas often have a certain food product in plenty, in another, there is food shortage, yet they have goats, sheep, and cows that they can exchange for the food without having to sell their animals. This offers them an immediate solution for their needs.
Ms Lucy Cheprayi, 56, who trades at Tamkal market, explains that creative women who make clay pots do not have to wait to sell their wares and then buy cereals, as they can exchange them with the grain. The buyers can sell the items at a later date, in a different market.
“Since the colonial era, the business has been booming and there was a time when a goat could be exchanged for household goods,” said Ms Cheprayi.
Another trader, Ms Mary Lokorio, noted that women make beautiful ornaments, bags and cups, which they exchange for food.
Livestock traders in Lomut, West Pokot heading to the market where barter trade is used to exchange goods.
Food security
"This barter trade ensures food security and ensures that traditional staple foods remain within the rural food chain,” she said.
Mrs Lokorio said barter trade would work better if the government subsidised social services such as education and health in the rural areas, since these tend to drain household incomes.
Tamkal Location Chief Emanuel Chesta observed that while barter trade is still thriving, men have often preferred to exchange their livestock for money while the women have stuck to the exchange of goods for other goods.
"Business booms between 11am and 3pm on Mondays. The market brings villagers together and it is usually an opportunity for the locals to settle their differences. Swapping one type of goods for another instead of cash is an age-old practice in most parts of the country but in a number of West Pokot markets, barter trade takes centre stage,” said Mr Chesta.
At the nearby Sokotio market in Cheptulel, where Jane Korwatum stations herself, the market is abuzz with activity as traders cart in bags of farm produce. Others bring goats, sheep, cattle and pigs.
“If I need a goat, I take two bags of maize to the market and look for someone interested in my goods,” says the cheerful grandmother.
“If we agree that the goods meet each other’s worth, then I will trade my grain for the chicken,” she says.
The chatter and haggling continues until around midday, when rural folk normally head back home with the food they have bought for their families.
Women who are engaged in barter trade wait for customers at Lomut market in West Pokot.
No more middlemen
“I used to sell my grain to middlemen who would come to the village during the harvesting season. They would buy it at a throwaway price,” Ms Korwatum says.
Once her store of grain was empty, she would spend her meagre earnings on food for her family, but it would not last until the next harvest.
Harvests have become unreliable in recent years as rains fail or crops are destroyed in extreme downpours, worsening the cycle of want and hunger.
This changed for Mrs Korwatum when she discovered bartering at a community meeting called by the village chief to discuss hard economic times occasioned by the Covid-19 pandemic.
“I was relying on relief food but the supplies would take a month to arrive. Sometimes, corrupt officials would sell off a part of the supplies,” she recalls.
Initial resistance
Even so, villagers took some convincing that they would be better off bartering their farm produce than selling it to merchants who would trade it for profit in bigger markets.
“At first, the people resisted the idea,” explains Mr John Krop, the chairman of the village market.
But when a few, including Mrs Korwatum, decided to try swapping commodities, they found they could make their food last until the next season. Soon, more people joined the trade and it gained leverage among locals.
“Barter trade has been working in this area. But sometimes we meet brokers who exchange our products with modern commodities at a cheaper price,” she said.
Women who have come to exchange goods at Sokotio market in Cheptulel, West Pokot County. With a barter trade, no cash is involved and middlemen are avoided.
Food supplies protected
Although it may be dismissed by Kenyan’s middle classes and elites as primitive, residents of remote areas of West Pokot are convinced that bartering promises a new way of protecting rural food supplies amid the effects of climate change.
County Trade Executive Francis Kitalawiyan noted that many residents are faced with hard economic times that have forced them to revert to the old practice.
“Because of the Covid-19 pandemic, people have no money in their pockets,” he said.
He added that many businesses in the region have been affected by the pandemic. BY DAILY NATION
Post a Comment