News

Poorest severely hit by soaring prices

© Mikkel Østergaard

India - rice

In India the price of rice has increased from 2 to 3 DKK per kilo – in the last two months.

”It mostly affects the ones who are already on the boarder between hunger and famine. Especially the old, widows, divorced women, handicapped and orphans. The most severely affected are forced to cut down from two meals a day, to just one. They try to extend their food in different ways, e.g. by mixing leaves into it or by begging at the neighbouring houses," reported by Nina Ellinger, DanChurchAid’s representative in India.

”The government is trying to stop the increasing prices by subsidizing foods and suspending export of ordinary rice.

But the people most severely affected receive very little help from the state, as there are holes in the system and distribution is not always done correctly. This leads to social unrest and the unions have issued a strike notice,” says Nina Ellinger.

© Mike Kolllöffel

Honduras - maize

In Honduras, where maize as well as beans and rice are all basic foods, prices have increased by more than 40 per cent during the last 26 months.

”The increase in the price of maize means that all families in our food security projects are affected.

Their expenses for ordinary foods have doubled. Some families tell us that due to the increases of prices there are days where they do not “turn on the cooker”."
Reported by Silke Mason Westphal, DanChurchAid’s representative in Central America.

The rural workers and the farmer organisations now demand renegotiation of the minimum wage with the government, as the minimum wage has been hollowed dramatically due to the heavy price increases on food.

The demands will be included in a national demonstration on Thursday, planned by the rural organisations, unions and other civil society organisations in Honduras.

Ethiopia - bread grain

In Ethiopia the price of grain has risen from 8 up to almost 50 per cent. This appears from a market survey, made by DanChurchAid’s office in Addis Ababa in three selected districts.

In the three districts Goro, Arrero and Dehana the price of grain has increased dramatically during the last three years; the price increases vary from 8 to 50 per cent – depending on the sort of grain and the place.

In the district of Goro the farmers who can produce enough food to support their own families, and still sell some, have increased their income due to the increasing prices.

But in the other two districts where the rural population is already unable to support their own families, the rising prices of foods have had negative consequences.

The same goes for families living in urban areas, who do not produce food.

”The affected families are forced to eat less and undernourishment is increasing”, the report concludes.

In Ethiopia chronic hunger is already a reality for eight million people, who regularly receive food aid in order to survive.

According to the UN’s food organisation FAO an additional two million people are in need of emergency assistance, because they are affected by the high prices of foodstuffs combined with bad weather conditions, which affect the crops. According to FAO the price of maize in the capital Addis Ababa has doubled compared to the price one year ago.

Malawi - maize

In Malawi the government has just closed all export of maize – among others to the neighbouring country Zimbabwe – until Malawi’s strategic stocks are filled with maize from the new harvest.

”This indicates that the country wants to secure its own population first if prices of foodstuffs continue to increase,” says Lennart Skov-Hansen, DanChurchAid’s representative in Malawi.

Prices of foods as well as of fuel rise regularly in Malawi. Prices of some foods have increased by almost 100 per cent.

Especially the poor people in the cities are affected. They simply do not have enough money to buy enough food.

”In the rural areas people already “live from hand to mouth”, but after the harvest people are coping somewhat better. The government has subsidized seed grain and fertilizers – and there is hope for a fairly good harvest,” says Lennart Skov-Hansen.

Zimbabwe - foodstuffs

In Zimbabwe the lack of foodstuffs is already disastrous. There is nothing to buy with the billion bank notes, issued by president Mugabe. The problem is, of course, primarily political. ”The population will note the effect of the increasing prices on foodstuffs as the UN’s World Food Program (WFP) will not receive sufficient grants and food to help the starving population,” Lennart Skov-Hansen predicts.

By Linda Nordahl Jakobsen ( lin@dca.dk ), Malene Haakansson ( mah@dca.dk ) and Lisbeth Engbo ( libo@dca.dk )