FOOD PRICES TO RISE AGAIN

FOOD prices are projected to rise again in 2023. 

With local farmers still reeling from the effects of the recent horrible floods, vegetable, poultry, and livestock prices would remain at a premium for at least the first few weeks of the year. 

Consumers would face the double-whammy of high food prices as a result of the on-going international issues of increased energy and transportation costs, the effects of climate change, and shortages of certain items. 

Imported meat and dairy items, along with cereals, eggs, wheat, seafood, oil, fats, and other products are projected to cost more, according to international expert agencies. 

Price hikes would be seen across all food groups, is how one organisation put it. 

Increases could range from between 2 and 3 per cent to up to 8.5 and 9.5 per cent, the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) stated. 

Fruit prices could stabilise, USDA said. 

The cost of food in Trinidad and Tobago has risen by an average of 50 per cent since 2018, a survey of supermarket prices has found. 

That is apart from local vegetables, which have been subject to the vagaries of dreadful floods, praedial larceny and the cost of chemicals. 

The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) said global food prices in 2023 would be around 10 per cent higher than in 2021. 

The FAO stated that some developing countries would have difficulty in financing rising food prices. 

The agency said that in 2023 it would raise funds to “save the lives and livelihoods of some of the most severely acute food insecure people, as acute food insecurity continues to escalate globally.” 

T&T imports the value of almost $6 billion a year in food each year, with the domestic agricultural sector contributing a mere one per cent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP). 

The International Monetary Fund has introduced a new financial window to assist in funding food imports by poorer countries. 

The high cost of food in T&T is coupled with a steep unemployment rate, resulting in the worst level of poverty in several decades. 

There are no updated official poverty statistics but anecdotal evidence indicates that hundreds of thousands of people are living under the poverty line and unable to afford nutritious meals. 

The rush of people for food hampers at Christmas time is an illustration of the hardship being faced by many people. 

Charity groups have reported more requests than ever and their inability to meet those demands. 

There are also more wayside alms-begging than in any recent year. 

Caricom leaders Mia Mottley and Dr. Irfaan Ali have launched a vigorous move to increase regional food production, but Trinidad and Tobago is only nominally involved. 

Indications are that high food prices would heavily impact domestic consumers in 2023, leading to more poverty, malnutrition, and sickness. 

An earlier report of the United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF) said poverty in Trinidad and Tobago caused a high incidence of children being under-fed, ill, and denied educational opportunities.