BUSINESS REPORTER
Global justice federation, ActionAid International, has called on the government to subsidise food accessibility to low-income people in particular women and children amid a spike in prices due to global shortages triggered by the Russia-Ukraine war.
African countries are major trading partners with Russia and Ukraine for supplies of wheat, edible oil, and fertiliser. Half of the grains distributed by the World Food Programme through its food support programmes come from Ukraine and Russia.
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on February 24 under a special operation has seen the prices of grain, wheat and fertiliser rising amid fears this will worsen the situation especially in African countries that are still to shake off the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic.
In Zimbabwe, a tonne of wheat bread flour increased by 31% this week to ZWL$215,000 which will trigger a similar response by bakers. A 10kg bag of roller meal increased by more than half to ZWL$1,665,000.
In a statement to President Emmerson Mnangagwa, ActionAid said the rising price of food has disproportional impacts on people living in poverty, particularly women and children.
“The government must increase social protection safety nets and other measures to improve the income of people in urban and rural areas to cope with the increasing food prices. The government must invest in building national food reserves to act as buffers and reduce vulnerability to food shortages and price rises,” it said in a statement also addressed to African Union member states. The statement was compiled by executive directors and country directors of ActionAid country programmes in Africa in their respective countries, Zimbabwe included.
ActionAid said Zimbabwe should scale-up support to smallholder farmers, especially women smallholders and sustainable agroecological approaches to farming, so farmers can improve soil fertility for crop production, without the use of expensive fossil-fuel chemical fertilisers.
It said the government in the medium term needs to accelerate climate justice as a continental and international priority as climate change is expected to drive 122m more people into poverty by 2030.
ActionAid said African have to act collectively and united to get the necessary fiscal space to fund them.
“Thus, we appeal to the government to collectively resist any pressures to impose austerity policies and cuts to public spending – which all too often are recommended by the International Monetary Fund in response to rising prices,” it said.
“In the face of the current conflict, the climate crisis and Covid-19 African countries need to invest more, not less, in gender responsive public services. Instead of austerity, governments ought to invest in ambitious and progressive tax reforms that pass the burden on those richest individuals and companies who are most able to pay.”
ActionAid urged the government to engage and remind the European Union, the United States for International Development and all other donors and the wider public, of the importance of adequately supporting the humanitarian crises in our continent
The global justice federation also called on citizens across Africa and their institutions to ensure consumer rights through monitoring food, fuel, and related prices and through acting against “selfish traders who take advantage of the disruptions in food supply chains”.
ActionAid works closely with citizens, civil society organisations and social movements to empower people living in poverty and exclusion to fight for women’s rights, social justice, and an end to poverty. It is present in 46 countries, 19 of which are in Africa, Zimbabwe included.
