By Stephanie Hegarty
Population correspondent, BBC World Service
Food don start to dey cost more and sometimes e dey scarce all ova di world.
Everywia, pipo dey find new tactics to take adapt and sometimes e mean to change wetin dem dey chop totally.
Bakeries for Nigeria dey “pack up”
Usually Emmanuel Onuorah no dey too send politics, e be baker and all im wan do na to sell bread.
But recently im job don become almost impossible with di rise of prices of im raw material wey make am fire 305 of im 350 staff.
E say, “in di last one year, wheat flour price don jump 200%, sugar own na almost 150%, eggs wey we dey use bake, 120%. We dey run at a loss”.
As di president of di Premium Breadmakers Association of Nigeria, for July e gada about half a million bakers togeda, make dem lock up for four days to do “withdrawal of services”.
E bin hope say goment go see am and reduce taxes on di products dem dey import.
Prices of wheat and vegetable oil don rise all ova di world sake of bad harvests, increase in demand and di war for Ukraine.
For Nigeria, na import dem dey import most of di ingredients for bakery. But because loaf of bread no cost half of wetin e cost for Europe, e no dey easy to just withstand price increase.
- Annual food inflation for Nigeria nack 22% for July
- Nigeria dey spend more than half dia income (59.1%) for food
Di kontri no get beta electricity so most businesses dey use private generators wey dey use diesel take work, and di price of fuel don rise 30%.
Even though Nigeria dey oil rich, no working refineries dey ground and dem need import all dia diesel.
As im cost dey multiply times three, oga Onuorah say na only 10-12% e fit raise im price cos im customers no fit afford pass dat one.
“Nigerians dey poor, businesses dey close, and wages just dey one place, you no fit overburden dem”, na wetin im tok.
On average, Nigerians dey use 60% of dia income take buy food compared to Americans wey dey use only like 7%.
E no make sense for bakeries to continue like dat. “we no be charity, we dey business to make money.
But las-las we move, so dat Nigerians go fit chop”.
Late night waka for Walmart for US to feed 4,000 pikin
Na 4am and Donna Martin don enta work for Georgia summer, anoda day mean say anoda battle to make sure say pikin for her school district chop.
Ms Martin na food service director wey dey feed 4,200 pikin with di federal free school meals programme.
She say, “we get two grocery stores for our community wey get 22,000 pipo, na real food desert we dey so”.
And, for di last year, e no easy to get wetin she need.
Annual food inflation nack 10.9% for July wey be di highest e don reach since 1979. As prices rise, some of Ms Martin food suppliers no wan feed schools again.
She say. “dem dey say, ‘you pipo dey too picky, and di profits no just dey’.”
Di American federal school meals programme get ogbonge rules like breadcrumbs for chicken must be wholemeal and food no suppose get plenti sugar and salt.
So Ms Martin need get very specific tins for every food she dey buy from cereal to bagels to yoghurts.
She know say her suppliers dey suffer too, dem no fit find drivers and fuel prices don increase by 60% since last year.
- Annual food inflation nack 10.9% for July for US
- American dey spend 7.1% of dia money on food.(USDA 2021)
Wen suppliers no deliver she need to use sense. Recently she bin no get peanut butter wey children like so she use bean dip.
Most times, she and her staff go go local stores like Walmart for early mor-mor and late night to find food.
“Everyday for one week, we bin buy out di whole town supply of yoghurt. School go start soon and I no want pikin to say: ‘Mama, we no get our smoothies today’,” na wetin she tok.
Jackfruit as di saviour for Sri Lanka food crisis
For wetin be rice paddy before for central Sri Lanka, Anoma Kumari Paranathala dey pick green beans and fresh mint for her vegetable garden.
From dis place, e dey hard to imagine say na di same kontri wey kasala dey gas evriwia, as di goment and economy dey fall apart.
Shortage of everything like medicine, fuel and food dey. Even pipo wey get beta jobs no dey see di basics buy.
Ms Paranathala say, “Now pipo dey fear for dia future, dem dey fear say dem no go get wetin to chop”.
Na her family get di land and na for fun dem start to dey farm am during di pandemic, now na mata of life.
- Annual food inflation for Sri Lanka na 75.8% for June
- Sri Lankans dey us 29.6% of dia money on food
Ms Paranthala use books and YouTube to take teach herself how to grow vegetables. Now she get tomatoes, spinach, gourds, taro root and sweet potatoes for her garden.
But no be every bodi get dat kain land to dey do garden so now many Sri Lankans dey face anoda type of food wey e jackfruit.
Ms Paranathala say, “for everi oda garden, jackfruit tree dey dia. Na just recently, pipo start to reason jackfruit, before dem go just fall for ground, waste.”
She don dey use am for creamy coconut curry to take exchange for di vegetables wey cost for market or meat. Jackfruit don dey enta street food Kottu wey be popular stir-fry. Even sef, some pipo dey grind di seed to make flour for bread, cake and roti.
Hip restaurants bin comot with Jackfruits some years back to take substitute meat but na crisis make am popular for di place wey e dey grow.
So wetin Jackfruit taste like? She say, “na sometin I no fit explain, e dey heavenly”.
One pot wey dey feed 75 pipo for Peru
For di city of Lima, Justina Flores dey tink wetin she go cook today.
Di question dey become harder to answer everyday.
Wen di pandemic climax, she and 60 of her neighbours arrange to contribute di food wey dem get take am use cook.
Dis na as most of di pipo wey dey stay for Juan de Miraflores na cooks, maids, nannies and gardeners but like Ms Flores, most of dem lose dia jobs for di pandemic and families dey hungry.
Dem start to dey cook for one pot wey dey outside Justina house with wood dem gada. Later dem build small hut and one local priest give dem stove. Ms Flores go ask market traders to donate food wey dem wan troway.
Two years later, dem dey feed 75 pipo, three times a week. Ms Flores, wey bin work as kitchen assistant before Covid, na di de facto leader for her community. She say “I just dey knock doors, dey look for help.”
- Annual food inflation for Peru reach 11.59% for July
- Peruvians dey spend 26.6% of dia income take buy food.
She bin dey make stews wey get meat and vegetable inside with rice. But in di last months, donations don drop and dem no fit get different kain foods.
“We dey desperate, I even need reduce di portions”, according to Ms Flores as she dey struggle to even get rice.
Wetin start for April as protest by farmers and transport workers against di increase in price of fuel and fertilizer don turn to strike wey don scata food supply.
Recently because of price hike, Ms Flores no dey serve meat again. She bin dey use blood, liver, bones and gizzard wen dem cheap, as dem start to dey cost, she move to fried eggs. Wen di price of oil jack up, she start to dey give raw eggs. Now eggs no even dey again.
So today, she dey serve pasta with sauce wey she use onions and herbs to make.
Ms Flores no dey blame farmers for di strikes or shortages sha. She say, “we fit grow food here for Peru but goment no dey help”.
Dem dey avoid chicken for Jordan
For 22 May, one anonymous account tweet for Arabic say make pipo tag pictures of chicken products with di hashtag #Boycott_Greedy_Chicken_Companies.
Some days afta for Jordan, Salem Nasralla bin dey go house from supermarket wen she see di campaign don go viral.
She say “we see am for everywia, all our friends dey tok about am. E dey all ova social media and TV”.
She bin don notice di price hike of her own shopping bill.
She be mama of two pikin wey dey cook regularly for her parents, sisters, nieces and nephews, she dey buy plenti chicken.
So she join di campaign and no use chicken for 10 days but e bin hard. Because oda meat and fish dey cost, na chicken Salam and her family dey chop almost everyday.
Dem chop hummus, falafel or fried aubergine instead of meat.
But afta twelve days of di campaign di price of chicken drop.
- Annual food inflation for Jordan reach 4.1% for June
- Jordanians dey use 26.9% of dia money for food
Rami Barhoush wey dey manage chicken farms and butcher house say e tink dis boycott na mistake.
Im farms dey struggle sake of rising cost of fuel and chicken feed since di start of di year.
Global factors wey don collabo to raise fuel and grain prices include, China wey dey try build dia pig herd afta swine flu, drought for South America and war for Ukraine.
For Jordan, di goment bin propose price cap for chicken and few oda products.
Chicken farmers gree to di cap till di end of Ramadan but for early May conditions make dem increase price wey start di social media anger.
E say, “chicken bin represent pipo vex with price hike of everything else”.
Ms Nasralla dey happy with wetin di protest don cause but dey worry sat e no go nack di koko of di mata.
She say “unfortunately na small farmers and chicken sellers e dey pain pass, no be di big traders wey dey put high prices on everytin wey di farmer need.”
