Rising cost of food tests Sierra Leone's stability

SIERRA LEONE: High poverty levels have compounded the impact of the food crisis for Sierra Leoneans, writes Jennifer Duggan.

SIERRA LEONE:High poverty levels have compounded the impact of the food crisis for Sierra Leoneans, writes Jennifer Duggan.

AMADA KOROMA makes a meagre income from selling bottles of water and orange juice from a basket at the side of the road. It used to be enough to buy rice for her family but prices at the market have doubled. Now they often go hungry.

With global prices rising, the cost of basic food stuffs such as rice, flour and palm oil has increased in Sierra Leone.

In just over a year, the price of a 50kg bag of rice has more than doubled from $20 to $42. "You can't buy anything with small money anymore," Amada says. "Things are now very hard. Honestly the prices. It's hard. We don't have the money for rice any more."

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Frustrations are mounting over the spiralling prices, especially of rice which is the staple food. The hike has led to social unrest in other countries in West Africa such as Burkina Faso, Cameroon and Senegal. While Sierra Leone has not experienced any demonstrations, the World Food Programme has said the situation is tense. The country is still recovering from more than a decade of brutal civil war that devastated the economy and infrastructure. While it is now stable with a democratically elected government, that stability is fragile.

Globally the price of food has been rising dramatically. Rising fuel costs, bad weather and a higher demand for food in China and India have been some of the reasons cited for the surge in prices. The increase in the production of biofuels is also believed to have contributed to the increase as less land is used for growing food.

High poverty levels in Sierra Leone have compounded the impact of the food crisis there. Sierra Leone is ranked by the United Nations as the world's least developed country. There is massive unemployment and it is estimated that more than half of the population live below the poverty line on less than $1 a day.

Nowhere is the poverty more evident than in the overcrowded capital, Freetown.

Slums of makeshift huts are built on rubbish tips where pigs and vultures scavenge for food. Children in tattered clothes and war amputees prowl the streets begging desperately for a few Leones.

"Things were already hard, there is a lot of disadvantage," says Lovette Braima, a social worker at a shelter run by the charity Goal for vulnerable girls in the Kanikay area of Freetown. "We see it in the communities we work with. Some parents who have six or seven children who used to eat five or six cups of rice are now eating three cups. So the children are underfed."

Sierra Leone relies on imported rice and food aid for almost 40 per cent of its rice. During the war a third of the population was displaced, many fleeing to the cities.

Many have not returned to the rural areas and much of the arable land is not cultivated. "We have come out of war and have not been able to produce enough to feed our population. Therefore we have had to rely mainly on food imports," minister for trade Alimamy Koroma said. "The increase in the price of essential commodities has placed a lot of hardship on the people in Sierra Leone," he added.

Many people think the government needs to take more action. "We want the government to step in," says Lovette Braima. "There should be a way for the government to come in and to get rice at a cheap rate. If the government doesn't do something, it will get worse. They have to do something about it."

The government has indicated that it will set aside land for agriculture in an attempt to become more self-sufficient.

"We want to be able to produce enough rice for our total needs and a surplus for export. We used to export rice in the early '60s and nothing has changed in terms of soil conditions or climatic conditions," Koroma said. "I believe that with the right leadership in government we should be able to properly harness these resources for the effective cultivation of our land and look forward to a bumper harvest in years to come," he added. But in the meantime people are going hungry.

Amada sits at the side of the road waiting for customers, but business is slow. She wipes the sweat from her brow and rubs her stomach. "We don't have enough money to put food in our stomachs. I want to eat now."

Jennifer Duggan travelled to Sierra Leone with the support of a grant from the Simon Cumbers Media Challenge Fund.