4am at the Dar Fruit Markets

The quest to unravel the complexities of opaquness in the fruit & vegetable industry continued by taking in first-hand knowledge at the start of the day with a visit to the Dar fresh produce markets.

Waking up at 4am, Deo and I traveled to meet with a guy who is a friend of a friend of another pineapple contact I have made here in Dar. The friend of a friend of a friend did not speak English so I had to rely on Deo entirely to explain what we were after and guide the conversation. I simply don’t know enough Swahili at 4am to bridge the cultural divide; it was early for everyone.

However, the markets were alive. The range of colors with fruits and vegetables piled high is an image I wont forget. It’s mainly b/c of the sheer number of flies using all the fruit & vegegatables for temporary landing places – while a cacophony of yelling on prices and newly arriving volumes overpowered the visual image.



You could tell that muzungus do not travel there often as the cat-calling of “muzuuuuuuungu” was rather intense across the three markets across the city that we visited. I think I disappointed many middlemen when I didn’t point to piles of fruit and proclaim: “I’ll take all of it!”.

The market at Kariakoo was the most bizarre. The other 2 had been outside – music was blaring from trucks and people were slicing open fruits to prove freshness and determine price based on ripeness. However, Kariakoo was in a basement. The air quality was not good, the lighting was dim and it just seemed stale. However, it is the hub market of Dar, closest to city center. I could not imagine spending my days there, competing on price with the tomato seller next to me – however, it is at least a job, even though the farmer at the origination point is truly undersold compared to the final farm-gate price.

My goal was to find out how many middle men are really part of the chain from start to finish – as well as to understand who are the “big players” of entry into the Dar market. I did not expect to get real clarity on the pricing as I was told (via Deo, from the friend of a friend) that the men would be very guarded about what they paid for vegetables versus the price at which they sell.

In the end, the opposite was true – farmers would lean in and share “the secret” of pricing with you highlighting that their mark-up of sometimes 100% was well-deserved --- BUT, we could not get a sense of the bigger players. Everyone thought he was the biggest player. Fair enough.

With the USAID proposal deadline coming up soon, it will be necessary to prioritize and determine what data we really need to finalize to include. At least I feel confident in my Dar market street cred!

After this, I woke again at 4am to leave for an incredible week’s vacation to Zimbabwe and Namibia! For anyone checking this website more than once (thanks family!! :) ), I’ll be uploading photos from those adventures asap.