GAWU forecasts prolonged high food prices
General Secretary of the General Agriculture Workers Union (GAWU), Edward Kareweh, is forecasting that prices of foodstuff will remain high till the middle of the year.
According to him, food prices will only start to decline when the food harvesting period begins.
Food inflation for the last six months has fallen consistently to 27.1% in January this year.
“Well, the price of food will not get better anytime soon. Looking at the country as a whole, we are entering into or are already in the lean season of production and no part of the country is experiencing harvest of foodstuff, particularly the major samples”.
“If we look at maize, it’s not being harvested anywhere in the country. Similarly, rice is also not being harvested unless those in the irrigation areas”, he quipped.
He continued by saying most parts of the country are not experiencing rainfall.
“Generally speaking, there are no rains throughout the country, and at this time also the Western parts of the country will begin preparation of their farms for the major season”.
“During this season, all the foodstuff we are eating is from last year. So don’t expect food prices to come down now”, he noted.
“We expect that by the middle to the end of March [2024], food prices will go up and stay high like that until we begin to harvest around June/July in the Southern parts of the country,” he remarked.
