Caterpillar traders at Down UB market in Mansa District in Luapula Province have bemoaned the high prices of caterpillars this year.

Margaret Musonda, one of the traders, says the high price of caterpillars has affected their business.

In an interview with ZANIS, Mrs Musonda indicates that customers are not coming out in numbers to buy the commodity compared to the previous years.

She narrates that a previous meda of caterpillars used to go at k 100 but that this year it is at k 500.

“The issue is that we are ordering caterpillars at a very high price from our suppliers in chiefdoms and so we have no option than to increase the prices,” she says.

Mrs Musonda points out that the high prices have no doubt affected even their customers.

” People are not coming out in numbers to buy this time around and this is because of the high prices,” she notes.

Another trader Brenda Mulenga observes that only traditional leaders can help to address the high prices of caterpillars.

She observes that since suppliers of caterpillars are from chiefdoms and that the chiefs are the ones who give consent on how trading is conducted, the traditional leaders should help to bring order on the market.

“The increase in prices is coming from those who are supplying the commodity from chiefdoms therefore there is a need to control the situation from the source,” she says.

Mrs Mulenga explains that previously the business of caterpillars used to be done nicely without exaggerating the prices.

Caterpillars are seasonal food which are usually common in rural areas and they come out just before the rainy season.