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Iki-Iki Market Place Poultry Section.
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As the sun rises early each morning in rural Uganda,
hundreds of villagers make their way to their weekly local market days to
purchase and sell goods. Among these travelers are rural poultry farmers and traders who
go to buy and sell birds at these markets. Each market creates a
different experience but its value to these villagers and farmers remains the
same. We visited three marketplaces in Eastern Uganda; Iki-Iki, Pallisa, and
Kanyuma. Each market was unique in its opportunities and challenges for its
visitors, but the overall purpose of buying, trading and selling goods was the
underlying similarity.
Our first stop was in Iki-Iki where we visited the livestock
section (at a separate location) of the marketplace that was split into quadrants, one of which was
specifically for poultry. The section was filled with sellers showcasing their chickens,
ducks, turkeys and pigeons, and buyers looking for the perfect bird at the
perfect price. Surrounding the livestock area was a wire fence, separating not
only the animals into their specific sections, but also keeping the farm in an enclosed area
that would allow the officials to collect dues from both parties and monitor
sales more easily. Lined along the fences were bicycles with baskets on the
back as well as motorcycles, which are both used for transporting the birds and must also pay a fee as well for being present.
Our next stop was the Pallisa market, which was completely
different from the first. In place of wires and gates were vehicles and
buildings. The market day took place on a major road in the town, with sellers
setting up their stations along either side of it. We parked next to a bicycle station
and soon found a designer jacket vender and a shoe vender setting up next to
us. There was no defined poultry section but there was still poultry being
sold, primarily chickens and pigeons. The buyers walked from one area to the
next; gravitating to our car because of the music and the loudspeaker we used to educate interested bystanders about KUKUSTAR and Newcastle Disease. We finished that visit
by driving around the town with the loudspeaker on, attracting buyers to come
to the moving car to purchase the vaccine while also directing them to our
newly opened shop around the corner.
Our final marketplace visit was in Kanyumu. Similar to Iki-Iki,
the market place was divided into sections, but not physically with fences. The
poultry section was located closest to the road, which was opposite our new
KUKUSTAR shop that was opening that day. We used the same approach with the loudspeaker
but directed them to the store that was across the street. This poultry section
also had an official monitoring sales and collecting fees from both the sellers
and venders (but not for transportation vehicles), which was a much harder task for him than the ones in Iki-Iki.
This was because without the fences he had to prevent unethical sales in which
the buyers and sellers would leave the marketplace and make the transactions away from the
official to avoid paying the market fees.
After visiting the marketplaces it was clear that despite the
rural setting and the differences in goods being sold, just like any other marketplace
in the world, the concern over ethical and legal transactions as well as the
constant search for loopholes and shortcuts in order to beat the system do
exist. The major difference is that these marketplaces serve as a central
point for these villagers who have few alternatives hence increasing their value and making them the perfect place to introduce our KUKUSTAR
Newcastle Disease vaccine.
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Pallisa Market: Picture of car driving around town
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Pallisa Market: Picture of villagers listening to us talk about KUKUSTAR.
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| Kanyumu Market: Picture of salesman talking over the loudspeaker. |
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Kanyumu Market: Picture of the team outside our shop
across the street from the market place.
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