We have all seen the recent news about the food crisis in Africa, particularly Kenya and Somaila. I recently received an email from our HALO Field Coordinator, Asiimwe Venancio, who manages our home budgets and tracks Ugandan trends. The below info from his email addresses issues we are facing in Uganda and how we may handle it. Reading this made me realize, once again, how blessed we are to live in this country.
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| Makarere Home Cooking, Uganda |
Current situation.
There is a very high price increase that is very alarming, increased depreciation of our shilling against the dollar and others. In less than three months, the commodity prices have more than tripled and almost quadrupling. A few months back a 50 kg sack of corn was at UGX 40,000 but its now 110,000 and in some places like Kibuli and Ntinda, its at 130,000 and the rest of the commodities are going up like that. What is worrying is that it seems to be going up week after week and we are not sure how much it will be in two months time. Market speculations are that prices are expected to be higher. Inflation rate has risen from 6% to 16.5% and its still going up and it could get worse towards September,October and November if nothing is done in time.
Actually the problem is not that there is a food shortage in the country. On the contrary, there is food though not very much but its in the rural areas and transporting the food town is a problem because of the high fuel prices. By the time food reaches us, its final price is really high.
This has been caused by;
1 - During the presidential and parliamentary elections and campaigns that just ended, its speculated the candidates used a lot of money especially the government candidates that increased the money in circulation thus high prices.
2 - At the start of the year the Central bank issued new currency notes and its speculated that instead of with drawing the old ones, they left them to used too alongside the new ones. It is speculated that this was a plan to have more money for those political campaigns.
3 - The government sold 2 of their 4 bank reserves to purchase fighter planes.
4 - The fuel crisis created by the Libyan war.
5 - Low food production over the past years.
Threats.
One can ask him/herself what if the dollar rates go down or stay normal while the prices continue to soar. There, it might become a big problem for all of us as it would force us to only meet the children necessities and leave others or we ask for budget increments.
This is a season when Uganda has always experienced bumper food harvest and we had hoped that prices could go down in these months but instead they are going up. The coming months of September up to December are always months of food shortages so there is a possibility that things could get worse.
Opportunities.
The government officials are scratching their heads in trying to find solutions to this problem. There is a need to help empower the agricultural sector so that it can support the economy by reducing the food prices which can also help us. The Central Bank is working hard on reducing the amount of money in circulation by employing measures like increasing the bank rates for all commercial banks.
Strategies.
Because of the uncertainties in the future, I have been advising the homes to store more food in this period when things are relatively lower. We think two or three months of stored food will held reduce the effects of the rotting economy. I have worked with the mentors in identifying a good supplier who is giving us discounts because of buying in bulk so that he can supply to the homes enough food for at least two months. We will then advance them funds to pay this and this would reduce the total money spent on food next months.
To learn more about how to help, visit http://www.haloworldwide.org/give/1-for-30/
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