Rising food prices increase vulnerability

Food prices in Angola remain high as a result of poor harvests and the low value of the local currency against the US dollar. "Food prices in the Planalto, [Angola's central plateau], are beginning to rise sharply. The 2002/03 crop harvest was not sufficient to depress prices to below normal levels. Compounding this, poor market systems have resulted in high domestic prices, even in areas that experienced relatively high cereal production," warned the latest report by Famine Early Warning Systems Network (FEWS NET). The report noted that "food prices remain high" throughout the country, despite "an artificial appreciation of the local currency, [the Kwanza], relative to the US dollar [of US $1 to K58]", following intervention by the Central Bank of Angola. FEWS NET said it would continue to monitor the exchange rate, so as to "capture the impact of the exchange rate policy on food prices in the long term". In the central plateau, or Planalto region, where the majority of war-displaced people were returning, the food security situation was "worrying", FEWS NET said. "In Bie, the provincial Rapid Food Needs Assessment Group (RFNA) reported that the food stocks of 15,000 recently arrived returnees and 3,000 residents in Belo-Horizon commune, Kunhinga municipality, are nearly exhausted. In addition, their access to markets is increasingly limited." The report recommended an "urgent distribution of seeds and tools, so as to ensure active participation of farmers in the current agricultural season and improve food availability in the coming months." The RFNA group in Bie also noted "critical food access problems among the returnee population in Caiei Commune, Nharea municipality". "In Huila, the food security situation of the returnee population is also deteriorating. There are indications that a substantial portion of their diet now consists of wild fruits, banana roots and sweet potatoes," FEWS NET said. The distribution of agricultural inputs to enable the returnee population to establish subsistence food production capacity within a short period of time was crucial, the organisation added. Following the seed and tool distributions, an assessment needed to be conducted before the end of December to determine the population's ability to cope until their first harvest in May 2004. "The evolution of the food insecurity situation is somewhat consistent with the projections reported in the last Vulnerability Assessment (November 02 to April 03). It is important that these areas are adequately covered by seed and tool distribution projects," FEWS NET concluded.