With rising prices of beer, Palm wine and Sha’a get boost in sales

Poverty has pushed palm wine away from the sheds into the streets. The mobile revolution has caught up with palm wine. This development has stunned conservatives and traditionalists who still generally treat palm wine with an air of mystery.

Palm wine, which is used in traditional ceremonies like births, deaths and weddings, was mostly sold in sheds and special bars when it first moved from the villages to the towns. Today palm wine is moving again, but at a more rapid pace.

Instead of palm wine consumers moving to special locations to meet their choice liquor, palm wine now meets them in their homes and offices, just like any “common” article. In Kumba, mobile palm wine vendors are seen everywhere.

Poverty has been identified as one of the main reasons why palm wine has moved from sheds into the streets. Cameroon, globally acclaimed to host connoisseurs of beer, wine and other alcoholic drinks, has been going through economic hardship for some time now and many of its citizens have had to slash their drinking budget. Palm wine, which is cheaper than most other alcoholic drinks, offers an alternative to cash-strapped alcohol-lovers.

The hawking of palm wine on trays and trucks, accompanied by improvised advertisements, is helping to push sales as potential buyers have immediate access to the product.

Before poverty reared its ugly head, palm wine, which was mostly sold in bamboo cups, locally known as kongus, sold for 50 FCFA progressively rising to 100 FCFA and 150 FCFA. With the intensification of poverty, the servings have been modified according to the size of the pocket of the consumer so that palm wine can be bought at 50, 75, 100 and 150 FCFA.

Many consider this as the sunny side of the palm wine mobile revolution.