The costly effects of rising food prices in a pandemic

Mervyn Abrahams

It has become a cliché that the COVID-19 pandemic and the associated lockdown have exposed the multiple cracks previously hidden under the veneer of evenly distributed prosperity and sound economic structural integrity in many societies worldwide. In South Africa — the most unequal of those societies — the now familiar, long, meandering queues of people seeking food aid have become a feature of the lockdown. Parallel to that, the country has experienced steep increases in food prices, putting further pressure on the ability of many households to meet their nutritional needs. Throughout the pandemic, Mervyn Abrahams and his team at the Pietermaritzburg Economic Justice and Dignity Group have tracked the price of a food basket that women living on low incomes typically try and secure each month. What they have found is concerning.

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Mervyn is the programme coordinator at the Pietermaritzburg Economic Justice and Dignity Group. The Group publishes the monthly Household Affordability Index which has become a countrywide indicator for food inflation of staples purchased by the disadvantaged.