Thursday, July 18, 2013
Consumers are demanding that merchants at Mogadishu markets lower
their prices on basic food items so that poor people can feed their
families during Ramadan.
"We ask our brothers who sell goods to have compassion for people who
are poor and bring down the cost of essential foods during Ramadan,"
said Wabari district resident Aadan Hussein.
As responsible citizens, merchants must be responsive to the public
outcry and do something to mitigate the sudden increase in food prices
that many families cannot bear, said the 48-year-old father of seven
children.
Prices for staples such as rice, flour, pasta, sugar and cooking oil
-- as well as for other traditional Ramadan-time meal ingredients like
dates, fruits, vegetables, meat and dairy products -- have risen since
the Muslim holy month began on July 10th.
"Prices of food items have gone up noticeably compared to before the
fasting month," said Hamar Weyne market food merchant Ahmed Hussein.
The price of rice has risen from 532,000 shillings ($28) to 620,000
shillings (about $31) per 50-kilo sack, while a sack of sugar now costs
680,000 shillings ($34) compared with 595,000 ($30.2) previously,
according to Hussein's observations.
The price of flour has risen from 550,000 shillings ($29) to 610,000
shillings ($30.5) per sack, while a kilo of dates has gone up to 50,000
shillings ($2.5) from 36,000 shillings ($2), he said.
The same goes for beef and goat meat, as a kilo now costs an average
of 120,000 shillings (around $6), while it cost 80,000 shillings
(approximately $4) before Ramadan. Consumers are also feeling a price
pinch when it comes to cooking oil, vegetables and dairy products.
While some shoppers accuse merchants of jacking up prices, food
sellers respond that price increases are a normal trend during Ramadan
driven by market demand.
"It is not up to us to raise prices because this is due to high
demand for food items, as consumption rises on the part of families who
buy more quantities of essential items during this month," Bakara Market
food merchant Ahmed Osman Tarabi said.
Appeals on behalf of poor, displaced
The cost of food has gone up despite a pre-Ramadan appeal to
merchants from Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud to refrain from
raising prices.
"As we welcome the month of Ramadan, I call on all merchants and the
business world to not raise prices of essential food items and I also
call on all Somalis to help each other and show compassion towards one
another," Mohamud said in a statement after meeting with a group of
merchants at Villa Somalia on July 7th. "I ask them to help those that
are in need and to work toward building and reinforcing national unity."
Mohamud said for the duration of Ramadan the government would reduce
taxes levied at Mogadishu's port on imported food items, and asked that
business owners' pass those saving on to consumers.
Poor people, especially families living at internally displaced
persons (IDPs) camps in Mogadishu, are especially feeling the pinch.
"The high cost of food is weighing down on IDPs who cannot afford to
buy their daily food requirements," said Fatima Mohamed, 36, a mother of
six who lives at Siliga camp.
"We have welcomed the month of Ramadan this year with a wave of high
food costs," she said. "This will double the burden on IDPs who have
been living under very difficult humanitarian conditions."
She appealed to relief agencies, charitable people and authorities
tasked with delivering aid to help families such as hers put enough food
on the table during Ramadan.
Tarabuunka camp resident and father of five Ali Abdullahi said the price increase is a huge burden on displaced people.
"We cannot provide enough food for ourselves during this month. These
high prices are turning our already difficult conditions into true
suffering during Ramadan," he said.
Abdullahi, 38, who earns less than $2 a day as a porter at Bakara
Market, said he does not make enough to feed and support his family.
"The state of IDPs is getting worse day after day, especially during
the month of Ramadan. Living in refugee camps is very difficult and is
even more so during Ramadan. If we do not receive aid as soon as
possible, we will suffer even more," he told Sabahi.
Meanwhile, humanitarian organisations were doing a lot to try and
help needy people and IDPs make it through Ramadan, said Ahmed Ibrahim,
director of local non-profit Solidarity Charity Association.
His organisation is planning with other non-governmental
organisations and charities to provide iftar meals for around 3,000
IDPs, he said.
"The suffering of IDPs in the refugee camps of Mogadishu is ongoing,
but it is increasing and getting worse with the arrival of the blessed
month of Ramadan," he said.