Kumasi reeling under high food prices

INCESSANT increases in prices of food, especially rice and other local food items, has become a major source of worry to residents in the Kumasi metropolis, who are calling on the government to take immediate steps to rectify the situation.

A survey by Ashanti File of the food market reveals a disturbing trend of astronomic increases in food prices virtually every fortnight, compelling residents to vent their spleen and frustration on the government.

Foodstuffs like rice, yam, plantain, beans and auxiliary products like vegetable oil, have become very difficult for average residents to afford, while those who have the means to pay for them, are subjected to weekly increases.

More worrying is the fact that both the consumers and dealers of these food products are crying.

Many traders lament that they have no choice, but to increase the prices, because they need to recoup the investments made in getting the products down south.

A 5 kilogramme of imported rice (perfumed rice) now sells at GH¢10 and GH¢11, while a big sized bag hovers around 60, 70 and GH¢80, depending on the quality.

Almost all of the traders Ashanti File spoke to lamented on one thing: “business is not as good as it used to be.”

A dealer, who sells among other staples rice from the Northern Region, told this reporter, “It would be all right if the goods were selling fast. Even, at very reduced rates, people are not buying.”

“I buy my beans from Togo, Niger, and Burkina Faso. I used to also buy from Bawku in the Northern Region, but no more buy from there, because of the crisis; people still ask for a reduction even when prices are very low; they are not buying. I still have my basket full of staples I brought from home sitting under the scorching sun; I am even hungry,” a trader woman told this reporter.

While many attribute the worrying situation to global economic conditions, many say the government has become insensitive to the plight of the people.