WARNING: This is Version 1 of my old archive, so Photos will NOT work and many links will NOT work. But you can find articles by searching on the Titles. There is a lot of information in this archive. Use the SEARCH BAR at the top right. Prior to December 2012; I was a pro-Christian type of Conservative. I was unaware of the mass of Jewish lies in history, especially the lies regarding WW2 and Hitler. So in here you will find pro-Jewish and pro-Israel material. I was definitely WRONG about the Boeremag and Janusz Walus. They were for real.
Original Post Date: 2011-01-06 Time: 03:00:02 Posted By: News Poster
By Ibrahim Kasita
ANY conversation on the streets of Kampala easily turns to the cost of living, particularly foodstuffs.
Stuck in a traffic jam, Lincoln Katambuka complains about the exorbitant rent on his one-room house, which he struggles to pay using his meagre earnings as a boda-boda rider. But at least the rent does not vary from month to month. Food costs, on the other hand, have been climbing steadily over the past months. Katambuka now has to fork out sh3,500, for a kilogramme of groundnuts, his main source of protein, up from sh2,500 two weeks ago.
Thousands of people across the country have similar worries, high food prices.
But food prices will increase more than previously expected this year (2011) because of tight supplies, changing weather pattern and rising demand in Southern Sudan, according to experts.
If the situation persists, it is likely to cause hunger and famine, dragging the nation behind in efforts to eradicate hunger and poverty before 2015.
“We are experiencing erratic supplies that cannot meet the demand. We expect food prices to increase further,” said Chungu, a food vendor in Mukono town.
There were out-of season rains in the food basket regions of eastern and northern Uganda in November and December.
“We had grown enough and expected bumper harvests. But the rains have spoilt the harvesting season, leaving most of the beans, maize, rice and groundnuts rotting,” said an agricultural expert in northern Uganda.
“The price pressure is expected to continue until the end of the coming season, which starts in March and ends in July.”
The forecasts of high prices are likely to exacerbate concerns about food price volatility. Last year, food prices recorded surging prices from fluctuation in fuel prices and the general scarcity of food items.
According to the Uganda Bureau of Statistics, food prices went up last month compared to November, pushing the annual monthly inflation rate to 3.1%, up from 1.4%.
“Consumers had to pay an extra sh4 on every item purchased compared to the previous years,” Vincent Nsubuga, a principal statistician in the bureau, explained.
“It also means that the cost of living has gone up and consumers have to either borrow or cut on their expenditure to fit within the budget.”
Already, the baking industry has raised prices of bread due to increased global prices of wheat, a major raw material of bread, implying that consumers will have to dig deep into their wallets.
“We have no option but raise the prices because our costs have increased due to weak shilling against the dollar, high transportation costs and increased freight and insurance charges,” Remegio Mukalazi, the Uganda Bakers Association spokesperson, said.
Crude oil prices have steadily risen to $96 a barrel in the past week, threatening to hit the $100 mark attained nearly three years ago. They are likely to keep rising because of healthy demand growth.
Prices of grains and livestock products have also gone up.
Renewed pressures on global commodity prices may be more likely to add to inflation.
Behind the dramatic surge in food prices lie rising demand for food in southern Sudan as the population prepares a referendum to decide whether to secede or not this weekend.
This has caused speculation in commodity sector, especially foodstuffs.
Kampala City Abattoir had already raised an alarm that beef prices would go up due to low supply as more cattle is exported to Southern Sudan, Rwanda and the DR Congo.
“We are producing under capacity. This acute shortage of beef has persisted for the last four months, yet there are no signs the problem can be addressed soon,” Stephan Duyck, the proprietor of Fresh Cuts, revealed.
The impending opening of schools and universities for the next academic session is likely to push up demand for maize, beans and peas.
“Beans and maize flour and other grains are highly sought after because schools are buying plenty to feed students next term,” a trader in St Balikuddembe Market, added.
However, the rising prices of staples and increased regional demand provide a window of opportunity for Uganda’s small farmers to change from subsistence to more commercial farming, according to experts.
Original Source: 
Original date published: 5 January 2011
Source: http://allafrica.com/stories/201101060027.html?viewall=1