Due to heavy rain, food crop inflation has risen from 7.2% in September to 20.2% in October. This rise could threaten the country's economic stability.
"We are going to see a scarcity in the market, which will force Ugandans to buy food that comes from abroad for which we have to spend the little foreign exchange currency we have.” Patrick Wakida, director of Research World International’s social and public research division said.
While the price for staples such as beans and cassava flour were generally stable, the wholesale cost of cooking bananas rose 10 percent between August and September. Kato Christopher, who sells cooking bananas, at Nakasero market in Kampala, said the price of a bunch of bananas had risen from 50,000 shillings ($14) to 55,000 shillings ($16) in a month.
Wakida proposed a subsidy for fuel to bring food prices down. “If the government can come up with 300 shillings for fuel, this means the trucker will have no excuse for charging high prices and the cooking banana seller will also not sell his produce at a high price.” he said.
However, conversely to the floods in parts of Uganda, severe drought across sub-Saharan Africa has reduced harvests and even some areas of Uganda have seen crop development affected by drought.
