Maravi

Rising food prices a challenge to cost of living, warns JCTR.

Rising food prices a challenge to cost of living, warns JCTR.
By Maluba Jere and Kabanda Chulu
Wednesday April 09, 2008 [04:00]

THE JCTR has warned that continued increase in the cost of basic food is posing a challenge to policy measures designed to mitigate the high cost of living. Releasing findings of the monthly basic needs basket yesterday, Jesuit Centre for Theological Reflection (JCTR) information officer Chilufya Chileshe stated that the current phenomenon of rising food prices needed to be expressed much more as a concern by various stakeholders, especially by the government, which bore the duty of improving people's welfare.

"The continued increase in the cost of basic food is posing a challenge to policy measures (such as the tax exemption threshold of K600,000) that has been designed to mitigate high cost of living," she stated.

Chileshe stated that this trend did not only affect immediate consumption patterns of households but also had serious implications of long-term measures.

"In analysing and designing strategies for meeting this challenge, attention must be made also to household chronic food inadequate situations and it is a well known fact that there are households that suffer chronic hunger occasioned by such factors as unemployment, prolonged illness, and loss of productive household members to AIDS, policies of impoverishment," Chileshe stated. "Unfortunately, these are categories that are often forgotten during the time of plenty but are indeed the deeply affected during times of pervasive difficulties such as when there are food price increases."

She observed that the centrality of food to human welfare cannot be underestimated.

"Surely, we need a much more expressive, operative and evaluative mainstream in response to this challenge of increasing food prices," stated Chileshe.

According to the basic needs basket, food prices for a family of six has continued to increase in Lusaka and the trend was also characteristic of other towns. Currently, the total cost of basic food plus non-food items, for March 2008, stands at K1,880,300, up from K1,870,650 in February 2008.

Labels: FOOD, INFLATION, JCTR

posted by MrK @ 7:33 AM