By Muluneh Gebre – Citizens with low and fixed income in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia’s capital have complained over soaring food prices amid dwindling supply in the volume of teff, a staple grain, to the city.
Haimanot Sentayehu, 32, is a single mother of two and supports her family by selling avocados at a place known as Talian Sefer, a densely populated suburb of Addis Ababa. She said the cost of living has turned out to be very awful, a situation which forced her to eat one meal a day as the prices of basic commodities such as teff, bread and cooking oil surge sharply on a daily basis.
“A kilogram of teff is traded at 100 birr which is equivalent to my daily income while a kilogram of onion is sold at 80 birr and 5 liters of cooking oil is bought at over 800 birr,” said Haimanot stating that the same commodities were bought at 50 birr, 20 birr 350 birr respectively a year ago.
Haimanot, who rents a house for 3500 birr per month, said unlike the past she rarely cooks stew since the prices of its ingredients such as onion and cooking oil have seen an increase over time. Oftentimes, she buys tomatoes to feed her family with Injera, a flatbread and staple food in almost all parts of Ethiopia.
“My husband ran away from marriage as the cost of living rose sharply,” said Haimanot, linking the high cost of living and rental price for a house to increasing divorce rates in her neighborhood.
Haimanot had worked as a domestic worker for four years in Dubai where had managed to save a good sum of money to build a house and open a business in her home land.
“With the money, I bought a plot of land at a cost of 165,000 birr in Sululta town. I built a house worth 250,000 birr but the town administration demolished it a few months ago in its bid to crack down on illegal settlement,” Haimanot told New Business Ethiopia in an interview.
It came as a shock for the single mother to lose all her assets in a day and she pleaded with the government to consider returning the plot of land or sending her back to any Arab country through a legal way.
Amelework Abay, is a public servant in one of the court offices in Addis Ababa. She earns a monthly salary of 1500 Birr, the floor wage among government offices. “I doubt if my mind is working well because sometimes I find myself talking alone and loudly,” said Amelework, explaining how badly the cost of living has impacted her mental health.
Amelework, who pays 3500 birr for house rent, said she cannot afford buying teff or other grains to make Injeraa, flatbread and staple food in almost all parts of Ethiopia and feed her two children and her husband, a daily laborer in the construction sector.
As to her, she buys Injera (each 20 Birr) from the market to feed the family while her husband covers the house rent which, according to her, is increasing every month. “Onion and cooking oil were excluded from my monthly commodity list a long time ago,” she said.
“My words fail to explain how the existing cost of living terribly affects my life and we spend more days in a month without having a meal,” said Amelework in an interview with New Business Ethiopia.
The Ethiopian Statistical Service (ESS) in early July said .Ethiopia’s general inflation rate for June 2023 stood at 32.5 percent, exhibiting a third consecutive month of decline,
In its monthly update report, ESS disclosed the general inflation rate for June saw a decline of 0.5 percent from May 2023 figure which was at 33 percent.
The latest ESS report also claimed that Ethiopia’s food inflation for June stood at 31.7 percent, a decline of 0.8 percentage points from May 2023 figure.
ESS report seems contrary to what people say about relentlessly increasing prices of basic consumer goods especially in Addis Ababa as the inflow of grains such as teff to the city has been affected due to conflicts in the northern part of the country, particularly in the Anhara region.
Adem Feto (PHD), a researcher at the Ethiopian Economic Association (EEA), said inflation has become a critical problem in Ethiopia and low income earning communities and pensioners being the worst affected.
According to the researcher, Ethiopia is facing a galloping inflation, standing at over 30 percent and the situation has become very challenging to the national economy, policy makers and particularly for low income earning communities.
“Ethiopia is among ten countries facing high inflation in Africa. Low income earning groups of the society and pensioners are enduring the brunt of the high cost of living due to rising food inflation,” Adem told New Business Ethiopia.
The researcher urged for the need to transform the out-dated farming and food production system to large-scale and mechanized farming system to produce as much 100 quintals of grain per hectare against 30 quintals being produced at present.
The researcher further recommended that the government need to work aggressively in resolving conflicts through peaceful means so that no farmland will be left uncultivated..
“The government can solve the rising food inflation through excess production, addressing man-made problems such as hoarding and conflicts as well as subsidizing low income earners and pensioners,” Adem commented.