Call to help drought-afflicted poor

Higher food prices because of the drought are ravishing the poor, yet government is doing nothing about it, the DA charged yesterday. 

The opposition party asked government to immediately increase social grants, subsidise food and agriculture, and help micro-businesses such as fruit and vegetable vendors.

Presenting a detailed study on the effect of food prices on the nutrition of the poor yesterday, DA MP Annette Steyn called on government to take a range of immediate steps:

Stop dragging its feet and declare the drought a national disaster as a variety of SADC countries had done, thereby triggering relief measures;

Centralised and focused drought relief management underpinned by real political will rather than empty rhetoric;

Food subsidies, discount coupons and food parcels for the most vulnerably poor;

A significant increase in social grants;

An urgent, massive upgrade of the school feeding scheme;

Support for small business food vendors, especially on pavements, and

A longer-term plan to ensure South African domestic food security.

DA MP Karen de Kock said the cost of a basic basket of food to feed a family of five nutritionally had increased by 16.2% over the past year, but social grants increased by about 6%.

That means for a family dependent on social grants, all income will be taken up by food purchases.

DA MP Henro Kruger said anecdotal evidence collected countrywide had shown almost a third of small-time pavement fruit vendors had gone out of business over the past year, and those still trading were buying about 50% less than before.

Reasons for this included higher prices, lower quality and lower availability of product.

He called on Small Business Development Minister Lindiwe Zulu to stop jetting around the world and to start assisting these micro-businesses.

Steyn said government res- ponses to the drought had been abysmal at best.

She took issue with government crop expectation estimates.

“I believe the crop estimate of seven million tons is a gross overestimation, and more than the expected four million tons of maize would have to be imported,” she said.

She said the so-called national disaster management centre could not be relied upon to produce correct data, causing the poorest subsistence farmers to suffer most.

“Subsistence farmers generally have almost no animals or feed left. This winter, animals will die and food prices will rise because government is doing nothing,” warned Steyn.