Standing in the glare of a 250 watt light bulb in the yard of his uncle’s house, Hilary Turyamugumya peers hopefully into the night sky in search of grasshoppers.
“Every evening I first pray for there to be power — and then I pray that the grasshoppers will come,” Turyamugumya said.
Stripped of their wings and fried with onions, grasshoppers are a delicacy in Uganda’s central region — gobbled up by the handful and washed down with beer in bars around Kampala.
Photo: AFP
This time of year should be peak season for the insect catchers, but Turyamugumya — who uses bright lights to attract the flying insects before disorientating them with smoke and trapping them in disused oil drums — says that business is tough.
“The problem has been power. It is on and off. Like last night, the whole night it was off,” the 33-year-old said.
From bakeries to beauticians to building firms, small businesses across Uganda have been struggling to cope with worsening power cuts in recent months.
Photo: AFP
Growing demand and a government failure to pay its bills saw power to some parts of the country cut for days at a time.
For Turyamugumya, and many others who work catching grasshoppers, no power means no light and no light means no grasshoppers.
Turyamugumya estimates his income this season will be half what it was in the previous grasshopper season.
“There is a shortage of grasshoppers and it is creating a problem for those who are catching and selling them,” Turyamugumya said.
Wandering up and down a strip of bars in the bustling Kabalagala suburb of the capital with his plastic bucket of grasshoppers, vendor Andrew Tumulamye agrees.
Power problems mean that the price he pays for grasshoppers at the market has gone up — and that means insect-loving bar-goers are having to pay more for the snacks. The price for the smallest bag has doubled to about US$0.45.
“When power is not good the prices go up and our customers cannot buy,” said Tumulamye, who is 18.
However, despite the price rises, the lure of a freshly fried grasshopper is too strong to resist for many Ugandans.
“They have a lot of proteins and a special taste like shrimps, they are like seafood. Look at this head, it is what I like most,” said bar owner Asha Cartier, after washing down a crunchy mouthful of insects with a glass of vodka.
As for the broader issue of power, the government admits that years of under-investment in the sector have left the country facing major shortfalls and forced the authorities to rely on expensive diesel generators.
In recent months, rising fuel prices and a weakening local currency have meant the government has struggled to cover bills for diesel generators and left the country facing a shortfall, Ugandan State Minister for Energy Simon D’ujanga said.
However, D’ujanga said, things are improving. Early this year a new hydroelectric power plant is set to come online.
“The future is bright, but for the time being we have to put up with this inconvenience,” D’ujanga said.
Those improvements will take time, however, and with the end of the current grasshopper season approaching fast, Turyamugumya says he cannot wait that long for the power supply to get better.
“We are looking for other ways to make sure we have power,” he said. “Me, I am already thinking of buying a big generator.”
The domestic unit of the Chinese-owned, Dutch-headquartered chipmaker Nexperia BV will soon be able to produce semiconductors locally within China, according to two company sources. Nexperia is at the center of a global tug-of-war over critical semiconductor technology, with a Dutch court in February ordering a probe into alleged mismanagement at the company. The geopolitical tussle has disrupted supply chains, with some carmakers reportedly forced to cut production due to chip shortages. Local production would allow Nexperia’s domestic arm, Nexperia Semiconductors (China) Ltd (安世半導體中國), to bypass restrictions in place since October on the supply of silicon wafers — etched with tiny components to
Singapore-based ride-hailing and delivery giant Grab Holdings Ltd has applied for regulatory approval to acquire the Taiwan operations of Germany-based Delivery Hero SE's Foodpanda in a deal valued at about US$600 million. Grab submitted the filing to the Fair Trade Commission on Friday last week, with the transaction subject to regulatory review and approval, the company said in a statement yesterday. Its independent governance structure would help foster a healthy and competitive market in Taiwan if the deal is approved, Grab said. Grab, which is listed on the NASDAQ, said in the filing that US-based Uber Technologies Inc holds about 13 percent of
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) yesterday received government approval to deploy its advanced 3-nanometer (3nm) process at its second fab currently under construction in Japan, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said in a news release. The ministry green-lit the plan for the facility in Kumamoto, which is scheduled to start installing equipment and come online in 2028 with a monthly production capacity of 15,000 12-inch wafers, the ministry said. The Department of Investment Review in June 2024 authorized a US$5.26 billion investment for the facility, slated to manufacture 6- to 12nm chips, significantly less advanced than 3nm process. At a meeting with
Taiwan is open to joining a global liquefied natural gas (LNG) program if one is created, but on the condition that countries provide delivery even in a scenario where there is a conflict with China, an energy department official said yesterday. While Taiwan’s priority is to have enough LNG at home, the nation is open to exploring potential strategic reserves in other countries such as Japan or South Korea, Energy Administration Deputy Director-General Chen Chung-hsien (陳崇憲) said. While the LNG market does not have a global reserve for emergencies like that of oil, the concept has been raised a few times —
RSS