Rising food prices hurt Indians

Anjana Pasricha

Kavita works as a housemaid in an affluent suburb of Delhi. She and her husband, who is a daily wage carpenter, earn approximately $150 a month.

Two years ago their wages would buy enough rice, lentils, vegetables and milk for the young couple and their one-year-old baby.

But, like millions of poor families, Kavita is struggling to cope with a 30 to 50 percent rise in the prices of these basic foods.

Kavita says spending on food eats into nearly two-thirds of the family's income. She says prices are too high for her meagre budget.

Experts say food price increases in India are part of a global trend. A recent report by the Food and Agriculture Organization estimates that food prices surged last year by nearly 40 percent.

The higher prices are bad news for a country where nearly one-third of its 1.1 billion population lives on less than a dollar a day.

Poor people, like Kavita, have only one answer: less food on the table, especially for adults.

Kavita says she tries to ensure that there is enough nutritious food for her three-year-old daughter, but that often means she and her husband make do with less.

Agriculture experts say there are many reasons for the steadily rising food prices.

But the main factor is that India no longer grows enough food to feed its population, as it did for decades.

It faces stagnating agricultural production on the one hand, and growing demand on the other. The affluent sections of its population want more meat, which is boosting demand for grain to feed livestock.

The result: India started importing wheat two years ago. India is also the world's second largest importer of edible oils. Voice of America