During our second Mbare Musika surveys for this week we noticed that Madora/Amacibi have completely disappeared from Mbare Musika. At Zimpricecheck we conduct two surveys of Mbare Musika Prices and publish the results on our Mbare Musika page.. Madora is one of the close to 70 products we look at but today we struggled to find a vendor selling them. When after about an hour of searching we finally did the person tried to sell them to us at an eyewatering price of US$6 per small cup which roughly is the size of a punnet. This was the only vendor selling mopane worms in the entire Mbare Musika area. In comparison last year a cup of Mopane worms, a local delicacy was selling for US$1.

Blame the drought and fire

Mopane worms or Madora as they are known in Shona are a popular delicacy among lower middle-income families where they often compete for attention with chunks and dried Kapenta as prime sources of protein. At least this was the case over the years but earlier this year things changed due to the persistent drought of 2023-24. Our research indicates that there was a massive fall in supply in Matabeleland where the Mopane worms are harvested. Vendors at places like Mbare Musika saw the amount of madora they were getting plummet. This prompted them to raise prices as they sensed an opportunity. Savvy vendors who had stock piled Madora the previous year made a killing as they were now selling at a premium.

That was until the fire in October which burned everything. Most vendors keep their stocks in the Retail Market. This inventory, according to the Vendors we spoke to, included sackfuls of Madora which were very dry and thus readily combustible. These madora along with bags of chunks, dried tobacco, beans and dried Kapenta where some of the items that made it hard for the Fire Brigrade to put out the fire. Everything was burnt to ashes but vendors were able to easily restock the other items. Madora however, were a different issue since they are in extremely short supply.

Winged termites to the rescue

As we noted in our previous article Madora was already a premium item. This was no longer the salty snack that you could buy for a dollar during a drinking spree with friends. Early this year prices had risen to around US$3-U$5 per cup and as much as US$150 per 20L bucket. But you could still buy them. Now you would be lucky to even find them even at those steep prices. Vendors have now replaced the product with Ishwa also known as Winged termites

Winged termites are another popular source of protein but they are seasonal and only found mostly during the wet Summer months in Zimbabwe. They are often caught using dishes of water, dried and then separated from their wings using winnowing. The resulting product is sometimes pre-boiled and then salted. They are either eaten as a snack or as part of the relish with sadza. Nutrionists, Doctors and other health-practioneers often tout the nutritional value of winged termites although they are not as popular or near as iconic as madora. Currently a cup of Ishwa is selling for US$1.

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