Difficult months ahead despite falling food prices

Food prices have fallen for the very poor in Djibouti's capital, Djibouti-ville, but the cost of living will probably rise in the coming months, forcing many of the residents to choose between food and school, a food security report warned. A month ago, the USAID-funded Famine Early Warning Systems Network (FEWS NET) reported that food prices had risen between 25 and 30 percent since August 2003. It warned that should the trend continue, then a significant number of Djiboutian households could face a food crisis. Between May and June, however, the expenditure basket of Djibouti-ville's "very poor" fell by four percent, a July report by FEWS Net said, adding that incomes too had tended to fall by 10-15 percent from June to August figures. "The very poor will be unable to cover all their costs this summer and will be faced with difficult choices, such as whether to cut back on schooling or on food consumption," FEWS Net said. It recommended the creation of income generating activities for the poor during this period, extension of school feeding programmes to poorer urban areas, reduction in the cost of education and of tax on importation of staple foods and further reductions on kerosene tax. The report noted that during this period, water would be in much shorter supply and there was a much-increased risk of fire in the confined poorer areas of the city, where most of the houses are built of wood and corrugated iron. The report is available at: www.fews.net