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food price inflationlatest news & developments
A customer browses vegetable in the fresh produce section inside a Checkers supermarket. South Africans continue to fork out 150% to 300% more for some basic vegetables at supermarkets. (Waldo Swiegers/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

Food costs soar as supermarkets impose lower prices on farmers

But some fresh produce can still be bought for up to 300% cheaper than in supermarkets if purchased in bulk at municipal markets.

A gateman sits beside the banner of the National Labour Congress (NLC) at the entrance to the Federal High Court of Nigeria after unions began an indefinite strike in Abuja, on June 3, 2024. (Photo by KOLA SULAIMON/AFP via Getty Images)

Protests in African nations have more than doubled in the past five years

Struggling economies on the continent are leaving many unable to afford basic staples

File photo by Delwyn Verasamy/M&G

Food prices top minimum wage growth

A Centre for Risk Analysis index measuring the ingredients used in making porridge shows that wages are not keeping pace with prices

Consumers are angry that the government is treating them like a cash cow instead of fighting corruption and improving its fiscal discipline. File photo by Dwayne Senior/Bloomberg via Getty Images

Don’t hike VAT, food price monitor warns government

The Pietermaritzburg Economic Justice and Dignity Group has said the cost of nutritious food is already unaffordable for poor households

Motivated: Farmers such as Angus Williamson work in a brutal environment but they carry on because they love what they do

Farm to fork: Factors fuelling food price hikes

Farmers have been hard hit by everything from load-shedding to transport costs and supermarkets say they have not passed the costs of running generators on to battling consumers

Maeve Commins regularly shops around for fresh food at discounted prices and freezes it to save money every month. Photo: Lyse Comins

Middle income consumers chase food bargains

The poor are assisted by taxpayers, the rich don’t feel it, but the middle class slips through through the gap in tough economic times

Bargain: Prices at the Durban Fresh Produce Market are about two to three times lower than those bought at retailers such as Woolworths, Spar, Pick n Pay and Checkers. (Rogan Ward)

Pick n Pay, Woolworths and Checkers charge up to 300% more for fresh produce

Fresh produce markets in cities around the country provide people with a cheaper shopping alternative, but not many cash-strapped households are aware of the benefits of cutting…

Photo: Delwyn Verasamy

Cost of household food basket up by 7.3%

Foods that increased overall in price in August by 5% or more included rice (5%), butternut (9%), apples (8%) and oranges (8%)

(Phill Magakoe/Getty Images)

Spiralling food prices force households into poverty

Price hikes mean fewer people are able to put nutritious food on the table, experts warn

Palestinian employees at the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA) wearing protective masks and gloves, prepare food aid rations to be henceforth delivered to refugee family homes rather than distributed at a UN a center, in Gaza City, on March 31, 2020, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. (Photo by MAHMUD HAMS / AFP)

New strategies are required to control food-price inflation

Food-price inflation has a direct effect on people’s lives — and it hits the poor the hardest