While global food prices are down 21%, food inflation in South Africa is up 14% as load-shedding, inclement weather, service delivery failure and instability take their toll.
Yet more South Africans will have been plunged into food insecurity after food prices spiked 14% in March. The jump in the cost of food — contributing more than a third to the annual increase in the inflation measure for the month — yanked the annual consumer price index upwards by 7.1%.With a 20.5% price increase year on year, vegetables topped the list, followed by grains , processed food and oils and fats , according to Stats SA figures.
Meanwhile, load-shedding is wreaking havoc on farmers, who require electricity to irrigate their crops. As stage 6 power cuts leave the country in the dark, they have just 14 hours a day to irrigate their crops, sometimes in the dead of night.The impact of load-shedding on food producers and retailers is stark. For instance, consider the feedlots, which supply urban centres with meat.
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