Prices putting food out of people's reach

The price of wheat, potato, musuro (broken lentil), soyabean oil and rice has increased, with staple food prices across Nepal remaining significantly higher in comparison to the same period last year.
"Commodity prices, however, have begun stabilising," said a report published by World Food Programme (WFP) - Food Security Monitoring and Analysis System, Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives (MoAC) - Department of Agriculture, Agribusiness Promotion and Marketing Development Directorate (ABPMDD), Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industries and Consumer Interest Protection Forum.
The price of wheat -- which normally decreases during this period of the year -- has risen over the last month because of the winter drought. Potato price is also very high, having increased by 28 per cent.
Compared to 18 months ago, the price of musuro (broken lentil) has increased by nearly 50 per cent, soybean oil by 32 per cent and rice by 25 per cent. However, the supply situation has improved across the country due to the lifting of bandhs in the Tarai.
The recent joint MoAC, WFP and FAO winter drought assessment confirmed that production of major winter crops like wheat and barley decreased nationally in 2009 by 14.5 per cent and 17.3 per cent, respectively, in comparison to last year.According to the year-on-year (y-o-y) consumer price inflation data released by Nepal Rastra Bank, the price hike rose to 11.9 per cent in mid-April 2009 from 8.9 per cent in the same period last year.
Because of the poor winter crop harvest, price of winter crops did not decline as usual -- it remained largely unchanged and even increased slightly in May, said the report. For instance, black gram price increased by three per cent and wheat flour and rice price increased by one per cent. Lentil price also increased by 11 per cent but this is likely due to rising regional prices as opposed to a poor harvest.
In May, heavy rainfall hindered food deliveries to Doti. It is likely that heavy rainfall will continue to cause supply constraints in mountain and hill markets across Nepal until the end of the monsoon.