Julien Adaye
In Ivory Coast, living conditions are becoming increasingly precarious. Fruit and vegetable markets are struck by high inflation. The situation has worsened recently with a drop in produce because of the hot weather.
Gouro market is a popular spot right in the center of
Abidjan, the economic capital of the Ivory Coast. It is here that almost all
food crop vendors come to stock up.
But at present, some basic items, like tomatoes, chillies,
eggplants, okra or bananas, are in short supply. And those that are for sale
come at a steep price.
This comes much to the dismay of customers like Louisette
Kouame, who has come to the market to buy groceries for her family.
"We can't afford anything," Kouame told DW.
"If you come today, a kilo of onions will cost 500 [West African] CFA
francs [€0.76, $0.83]. The next day, it's 800 francs. A kilo of tomatoes costs
2,000 francs. We can't prepare anything."
Viviane Tagro, who owns a restaurant, is facing similar
difficulties.
“Usually, I can get all I need for 100,000 CFA francs. But
today, that isn’t enough, and so I didn’t buy anything. Just four tomatoes at
500 francs,” Tagro said.
Difficult conditions exacerbated by climate
The main cause for this recent inflation is the fact that
Ivory Coast has to import many of these products.
For onions, tomatoes and potatoes, Ivory Coast relies on
produce from Burkina Faso, Niger and Morocco. Trade in the region has been
affected by the growing militant threat in the Sahel region, as well as the
junta-led governments of Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso quitting the ECOWAS
regional bloc – an economic union tasked with promoting integration in the
region.
Yvonne Goley Lou, a local food producer who also presides
over Gouro market, says that the high temperatures since the start of the year
have been exacerbating the short supply of fruits and vegetables.
There’s one thing we need to understand,” Goley told DW. “Food
production has not been modernized. It’s been done in an archaic way for years
now. We work by hand, we water with watering cans, and we have a rainfall
problem; it doesn’t rain. So our yields are down.”
She also warned that things are not going to get easier: “With
the global warming we’re seeing now, can you water with a watering can to put
the right amount of water on the plant? If you have a hectare, can you water it
with the watering can for a whole day?”
Price hikes for more than one reason
Ranie-Didice Bah-Kone, Executive Secretary of the National
Council to Combat the High Cost of Living (CNLVC), meanwhile says that there is
at least some hope on the horizon.
“What you need to know is that food products are seasonal,”
she told DW. “When it’s the season, they’re in high availability. High
availability means lower prices. So in a few weeks’ time, things will be back
to normal.”
CNLVC is presided over by the Prime Minister and the
Minister of Commerce, and was created to ensure transparency for Ivory Coast’s
staple foods. Day-by-day prices and trends are displayed on its website so
people can make educated choices.
However, Bah-Kone’s predictions might not fit every context –
especially for imported products, according to Soumahoro Ben N’Faly, President
of the Ivory Coast Active Consumers Association.
He Insists that regular police checks are contributing to a
hike in prices, with corruption and extortion allegedly pushing prices
sky-high.
“A truckload of cabbage, tomatoes, onions, peppers, beans,
potatoes and peanuts from the northern border to Abidjan pays 200,000 francs in
false fees alone. The forces of law and order … stop and extort the motorists,”
he told DW.
Meanwhile, the prices for non-produce staples like rice,
oil, sugar and milk are also on the rise, as are transport costs and commercial
property rents.
The general feeling among Ivorians, when it comes to
inflation and the cost of living, is that things are likely to get worse before
they get better.