LESOTHO: Food prices aggravate crisis

JOHANNESBURG, 27 June 2008 (IRIN) - Now, rising food prices are adding to the crisis, and the most vulnerable, often children, are paying the price.

"The increase in food prices and fuel prices, combined with the end of emergency drought-related relief interventions from donors and government, have resulted in a potentially critical situation," said Aberra Bekele, Deputy Representative of the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF). "Children are already the most vulnerable and at risk in Lesotho."

Bekele told IRIN/PlusNews the situation would hit the most vulnerable the hardest. An HIV prevalence rate of 23 percent had left over 180,000 children orphaned, and "any imbalance and further shock, such as the increase in food prices, could cause an additional blow to children."

According to the World Food Programme (WFP), the price of maize-meal, the staple food in Lesotho, had increased by over 55 percent in the past year. Other essentials were also quickly soaring beyond the reach of the poor: vegetable oil had doubled in price; paraffin, used for cooking, had risen by 80 percent.

The poor spent such a high portion of their income on food that even a slight price hike could push thousands over the edge, said Hassan Sheikkh, Programme Officer at WFP Lesotho.

"In a situation such as this, people will be forced to adopt more severe and strange coping strategies - selling already depleted productive assets, skipping meals during the day, [or] migrating [to another area or neighbouring country]," he commented.

Read the full article here http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=78984