Climate change amplifies food price hikes, hits vulnerable communities

Members of the Parliamentary committee on Trade, Industry and Cooperative inspect a shipment of rice at the Kenya National Trading Corporation (KNTC) warehouses in Mombasa on 5th April 2023. [Robert Menza, Standard] Amidst rising food prices, Kenyan communities are grappling with the impacts of climate change and facing significant challenges in adapting to these changes, according to a recent report published by ActionAid. The study sheds light on the alarming effects of climate change and emphasizes the urgent need for implementing adaptation measures in the country. "Increasing food prices have become a burden and climate change has made it even worse," says John Kamau, a farmer from Nakuru County, Kenya, struggling to feed his family. "Erratic rainfall and prolonged droughts have severely affected our agricultural productivity, making it harder for us to afford basic food items." The ActionAid report reveals that these climate-related challenges have further worsened the impact of increasing food prices, pushing vulnerable communities into deeper levels of hardship. According to the report, communities are now spending on average twice as much, a staggering 101 percent more, on a loaf of bread and 119 percent more on pasta. Additionally, sugar prices have increased by an average of 59 percent. The study also highlights that nearly three-quarters (74 percent) of the surveyed individuals have been forced to shift to low-quality food due to rising prices. Moreover, all 14 countries examined in the report are currently experiencing or anticipating climate-related disasters. While global food prices, as measured by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) Food Price Index, have dropped by 11.7 percent since February 2022, the new research by ActionAid indicates that local communities in the Global South have faced a substantial increase in prices. When compared to February 2022, communities in these regions are now confronting average price hikes of 101 percent for wheat, 119 percent for pasta, 59 percent for sugar, 98 percent for water, 57 percent for cooking oil, 47 percent for cooking gas, 80 percent for petrol, 118 percent for fertilizer, and 83 percent for sanitary pads. The World Bank Food Security Update for May 2023 has also highlighted the high domestic food price inflation prevalent in almost all low- and middle-income countries. Moreover, the latest Global Report on Food Crises and the FAO Acute Food Insecurity Area Classification have identified numerous countries, including those surveyed by ActionAid, as facing acute food insecurity. As communities strive to cope with rising prices, a number have adopted various strategies, some of which have negative consequences. The report reveals that 59 percent of the interviewees mentioned taking on debt to manage the economic pressure of high prices. Additionally, 50 percent of the respondents reported that men have been migrating to urban areas in search of employment, leaving behind their families. This phenomenon, as discovered by ActionAid's 2022 research, often leads to family abandonment and places additional burdens on women and children remaining in the villages. Selling precious assets, including livestock, has become a necessity for many households (as reported by 42 percent of respondents), jeopardizing their savings and future sources of income. Negative coping strategies also include deforestation for charcoal production, and women and girls resorting to selling their clothes or engaging in sex work to ensure economic survival. The impact of rising prices has been felt in both crop production and livestock rearing, which are crucial sources of livelihood in rural areas. The steep increase in fertilizer prices, averaging 118 percent across the 14 surveyed countries, has compelled farmers to reduce its usage, resulting in a decline in crop production across all the surveyed nations. However, the report highlights that many people have managed to mitigate the impact of rising prices by adopting agroecology practices. Agroecology, a science that encompasses sustainable farming practices and a social movement, integrates social, biological, and agricultural sciences with traditional, indigenous, and farmers' knowledge and cultures. People from 12 countries reported that agroecological practices have reduced expenses for crop production in the face of skyrocketing fertilizer prices. The perception survey conducted during March and April 2023 involved 1,010 participants, including 639 women (63%) and 371 men (37%), across 69 local communities in 14 countries. The surveyed countries encompass Afghanistan, Bangladesh, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Ethiopia, Haiti, Kenya, Malawi, Myanmar, Nepal, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Somaliland, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. The prices in 2023 were compared with those in February 2022 using percentage analysis, and a national average was calculated for each item, which was subsequently converted into an average for all 14 countries.

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