confidentially speaking
The Africa Confidential Blog
Africa's food price woes
Blue Lines
The announcement this week by the United Nations that over 13 million
people in Africa face starvation in what it calls the biggest
humanitarian crisis since the Second World War is a reminder of
continuing failures in food production across the continent. The UN's
warning focuses on the war-torn areas of north-east Nigeria, Somalia and South Sudan but Africa's food crisis extends way beyond those borders. In fact, in
many African countries food prices are driving up the inflation rate
and pushing down living standards to a politically dangerous level,
according to an important new monograph from the London-based Africa
Research Institute.
Many government statisticians omit food and fuel prices from their
'core' inflation data because they are so volatile. This means the
problem of spiralling food prices is gravely under-reported.
Drought is fuelling food price inflation in southern and East Africa:
by 16.5% in South Africa, 26% last year in Zambia, over 40% in Angola, 18.8% in Uganda, 33% in South Sudan and
70-90% in Somalia. The exception is Ethiopia,
formerly stricken by famine. Its government now has a much stronger
development focus and has kept food price inflation well under 10%.
Governments could do much more to end this suffering. Apart from
boosting incentives and extension services, such as supplying seeds and
fertilisers to farmers, governments should cut tariffs, and greatly
improve transport links and storage facilities.
