Njombe basket makers are urging the government to find a reliable market for them
Residents of Ikando Village in Njombe Region preparing grass for sewing baskets.
A resident of Ikando Village, Njombe District Council, Maria Muhema, sewing one of the baskets for sale.
Baskets ready for sale.
Photo poses after sewing.
By Our
Correspondent, Njombe, Tanzania
Basket tailors Njombe District Council Njombe Region has asked the government to find them a reliable market to sell their basketball products in order to bring productivity.
Speaking to reporters, the tailors said they face the challenge of not having a reliable market and being forced to sell without a profit.
One of the seamstresses, including Maria Muhema (61), a mother of five, a resident of Ikando village, Njombe district council, said she has started sewing baskets since she was a girl to earn a living but the market has grown around their areas so failing to benefit of selling practices.
"We were taught basketball education by a white man from Njombe town and I started since I was a girl and her income is still low, but I think if we get clients outside our region we will rise economically" said Maria.
He said that there are customers but still raw materials for making such products as grass have become a challenge to find.
"To make these baskets we use grass that grows along the river but sometimes they grow far away so we have to buy from young people who sell us 10,000 shillings where compared to its stagnant sales we get a loss" he said.
Furaha Kilasi (39), a resident of Ibumila village, Njombe district councilor, is a mother of three children. The solution to the product's value is to find a foreign market because the domestic has not changed their lives.
"I have children and I study through this work but we get very little, we believe if we get the foreign market the price of the basket will increase…. The hardships of life are what made me sew baskets but now the price does not match its preparation where the basket starts at 4000 shillings
In the case of Zion Kaduma (26) a resident of Ikando village in Njombe district council, the mother of one child started sewing baskets since she was a child and said the basket market is not friendly because its prices are different.
"Every day we sew one or two baskets, the prices are different. The market is not good. You find a customer ordering a product if you send it to him and he starts lowering the price or tells you they are not good at that time.
Zion also called on the government to support them by recognizing the product by finding them a foreign market as well as recognizing them in five percent of women's council loans.
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