Ramadan food prices soar in Darfur

01/07/2014 13:28

Families in Darfur complain of soaring prices of consumer goods, in particular as the fasting month of Ramadan has started. Traders suffer from the low purchasing power. “The ingredients of the traditional home-made drink, abré, to break the fast, have become too expensive”, a woman in El Geneina, capital of West Darfur, told Radio Dabanga. “We also can hardly afford to buy basic commodities like lentils, cooking oil, or sugar. The price of a pound of sugar has risen to SDG4 ($0.70), and a malwa (3,15 kg) of sorghum costs SDG15 ($2.60). We pay SDG20 ($3.50) for a bottle of cooking oil, a pound of dry okra, or a pound of lentils.” Many families in Darfur confirmed their inability to buy the requirements for the month of Ramadan. Parents are destitute, because the start of the new school year, coinciding with Ramadan, also requires additional expenses. File photo: Two men set up trays with food to breakin the fast of Ramadan at the El Tijani School in El Fasher, in an activity sponsored by Unamid, August 2012 (Albert González Farran/Unamid) Related:Gireida, South Darfur: armed robberies, prices soar, rations reduced (22 June 2014) Displaced in Central Darfur reject school fees (12 June 2014) Prices soar in North Darfur (6 May 2014) Food prices soar in South Darfur capital (5 February 2014)

Families in Darfur complain of soaring prices of consumer goods, in particular as the fasting month of Ramadan has started. Traders suffer from the low purchasing power.

“The ingredients of the traditional home-made drink, abré, to break the fast, have become too expensive”, a woman in El Geneina, capital of West Darfur, told Radio Dabanga. “We also can hardly afford to buy basic commodities like lentils, cooking oil, or sugar. The price of a pound of sugar has risen to SDG4 ($0.70), and a malwa (3,15 kg) of sorghum costs SDG15 ($2.60). We pay SDG20 ($3.50) for a bottle of cooking oil, a pound of dry okra, or a pound of lentils.”

Many families in Darfur confirmed their inability to buy the requirements for the month of Ramadan. Parents are destitute, because the start of the new school year, coinciding with Ramadan, also requires additional expenses.

File photo: Two men set up trays with food to breakin the fast of Ramadan at the El Tijani School in El Fasher, in an activity sponsored by Unamid, August 2012 (Albert González Farran/Unamid)

Related:

Gireida, South Darfur: armed robberies, prices soar, rations reduced (22 June 2014)

Displaced in Central Darfur reject school fees (12 June 2014)

Prices soar in North Darfur (6 May 2014)

Food prices soar in South Darfur capital (5 February 2014)