Residents in Techiman, the Bono East Regional capital have expressed concern about the sharp increment in the prices of basic food items and other consumables at the Techiman Central and other satellite markets.

They attributed the situation partly to the recent upward adjustment in the price of fuel, worrying that the trend was impacting heavily on their socio-economic livelihoods.

Speaking to the Ghana News Agency (GNA) market survey at the Techiman Central Market, some of the residents said that their present conditions were bad and that they and their families could not afford a three-square meal and called for government intervention.

Madam Elizabeth Gekere, a vegetable seller who said she had two children complained about high transportation fares which had translated into the sharp increase in the price of vegetables and farm produce.

She noted that many farmers had increased their food produce bought at the farm gates due to an increase in the cost of agrochemicals and seedlings.

“Everything including water is now expensive in Techiman and this is affecting our livelihoods”, Madam Gekere stated.

Madaam Amina Yakubu Mohammed, a trader at the Techiman Central Market also attributed the increase in the cost of petroleum products in the country to the United States/Israel-Iran war, saying that fuel prices had also increased in the world market.

“We understand that due to the war there has been shortage of fuel everywhere affecting many nations and not Ghana alone,” she stated.

Madam Mohammed called on the government to do something fearing that if nothing was done, the ordinary Ghanaian was going to suffer.

Mr Awuni Atambugri, a cobbler at the Techiman Central Lorry Station expressed his frustrations, saying that the high cost of raw materials was gradually collapsing his business.

Meanwhile, transport fares from Techiman to Accra, Kumasi, Takoradi, Ho, Koforidua and Cape Coast, as well as from Techiman to Wa, Bawku, Bolgatanga, Tamale, and Navrongo had been increased.