Global Forum on Food Security and Nutrition (FSN Forum)

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    • Dear Facilitators,

      Higher food prices reduce the real income of poor consumers.

      Poor consumers spend a large percentage of their income on food which naturally then becomes an issue when food prices increase. The poorest are hardly able to reduce calorie intake further. Instead, they cut expenditures on other domains such as health or on the quality of food, which ultimately can contribute to micronutrient deficiencies. As the vulnerability of poor consumer increases in such circumstances others such as net sellers can benefit from higher food prices. Market instabilities make it difficult for the farmers to forecast prices during harvesting period and therefore they cannot exploit all income enhancing options with respect to input and crop choice. This lack of information becomes particularly severe for farmers who are living far from markets and without access to information technology and phones.

       

      Jeffrey Luboga

      The Hunger Project Uganda

      Strategic Partnerships Lead