The bulletin by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) shows that local prices of maize, sorghum and other cereals are near or at record levels in Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, Somalia and South Sudan.
In Uganda, the prices of beans, cassava and maize flour is about 25 per cent higher than a year ago in the capital city, Kampala. Beans now cost 40 per cent more in Kenya than a year earlier while maize prices are up by around 30 per cent, according to the bulletin.
In Tanzania, maize prices in Arusha, Tanzania, have almost doubled since early 2016 while in south Sudan food prices are now two to four times above their levels of a year earlier.
"Sharply increasing prices are severely constraining food access for large numbers of households with alarming consequences in terms of food insecurity," Mario Zappacosta, a senior economist for the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), in a news release.
Zappacosta says that Drought-affected pastoral areas in the region face even harsher conditions. . In Somalia, goat prices are up to 60 per cent lower than a year ago, while in pastoralist areas of Kenya the prices of goats declined by up to 30 per cent over the last 12 months.
He says that shortages of pasture and water caused livestock deaths and reduced body mass, prompting herders to sell animals while they can leaving them with even less income to purchase basic foodstuffs.. This has also pushed up the prices of milk.
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