The costly effects of rising food prices in a pandemic | Mervyn Abrahams | TEDxJohannesburgSalon

It has become a cliché that the COVID-19 pandemic and the associated lockdown has exposed the multiple cracks previously hidden under the veneer of evenly distributed prosperity, and sound economic structural integrity, in many societies around the world. In South Africa — the most unequal of those societies — the now familiar, long, meandering queues of people seeking food aid has become a feature of the lockdown. Parallel to that, the country has experienced steep increases in food prices, putting further pressure on the ability of many households to meet their nutritional needs. Throughout the pandemic, Mervyn Abrahams and his team at the Pietermaritzburg Economic Justice and Dignity Group have tracked the price of a food basket that women living on low incomes typically try and secure each month. What they have found is concerning: over the same period, when compared to the increase in the minimum wage, the increase in the price of the food basket has been significantly greater. As a result, households have had no choice but to cut down on the quality of the nutritional content of the basket. Against the backdrop of a raging pandemic, this development is worrying: nutrition is an essential part of the armour that one needs in order to resist the virus. Illness is more cost-effectively resisted through the plate, than through the hospital.  Mervyn the programme coordinator at the Pietermaritzburg Economic Justice and Dignity Group. The Group publishes the monthly Household Affordability Index which has become a countrywide indicator for food inflation of staples purchased by the disadvantaged. This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at https://www.ted.com/tedx