Food Basket

basket.jpg (3363 bytes) The meaning of the "FOOD BASKET"

One of the best known works of the JCTR is the monthly "food basket" survey to estimate costs for a family of six in Lusaka. Widely cited and hotly discussed, the survey gives a quick picture of the increasingly difficult struggle to survive in Zambia today. Muweme Muweme, directs this survey now and in the article below explains its meaning and some plans to expand its coverage.

In the book of James we read that faith alone is not enough but it has to be accompanied by good works. (James 2: 26) As we strive to serve the faith we at Jesuit Centre for Theological Reflection also strive to promote justice. This explains why JCTR set up its Economic and Social Development Research Project to monitor the bread and butter issues and expose the plight of the poor who suffer from political and economic injustice.

The basket ONLY of basic food

In pursuit of the mission of faith and justice, JCTR has since April 1991 carried out a simple survey of prices of basic food stuffs in the Lusaka area on a monthly basis. This provides over time a fairly accurate picture of the rising cost of living in Lusaka, by compiling what is called "An Estimated Food Basket for a Family of Six in Lusaka."

The total cost of this food basket is calculated by averaging the prices gathered from Soweto market and a number of large retail shops in the City of Lusaka. This monthly basket is of basic food such as mealie meal for nshima, vegetables, cooking oil, meat, eggs, etc. We also include some charcoal as simple fuel for cooking, some soap to wash up and some vaseline to moisturize the body. The basket does not include other essential expenses such as housing, water, electricity, fuel, transport, clothing, education, health care, recreation, etc.

The use of the basket

The usefulness of the basket is that it gives over time a fairly accurate picture of the rising cost of living in Lusaka. Its accounts compare favorably with the surveys done by the Government’s Central Statistical

The cost of living – indeed the cost of surviving – is for most Lusakans quite out of reach when the basket is used as the norm

Office. Moreover, the JCTR’s basket’s regular and wide dissemination (published in newspapers, NGO newsletters and periodic reports, cited in scholarly studies, and circulated in government offices, international organizations, trade unions and businesses) has assured that it receives attention and stirs discussion.

Some trade unions have brought the monthly food basket into their wage negotiations in arguing for increases to meet basic needs. Whatever the response to the monthly preparation and circulation of the JCTR’s food basket may be, one obvious conclusion can be drawn from the picture it presents. The cost of living – indeed the cost of surviving – is for most Lusakans quite out of reach when the basket is used as the norm.

Why food as our indicator?

The Economic and Social Development Research Project of JCTR decided to pick on food as its major indicator for measuring the cost of living mainly because food does take up by far the largest portion of a Zambian’s monthly income. This is especially true with the abolition of price controls and subsidies under the government’s Structural Adjustment Program (SAP). Food expenses consume over 75% of the monthly income for the rural population and 63% for the urban population. Food is one of the primary necessities of life and its availability a good indicator of the levels of poverty.

The food situation in the country could be analyzed by looking at the status of food security. This is determined by comparing the income of a household and the cost of the minimum food requirement based on acceptable quantities of calories and proteins to enable members of a household to function normally. A household is classified as food insecure if the income is not adequate to meet the cost of the required food. If the income is adequate, the household is classified as food secure.

The rising cost of living

Since June last year, our monthly food basket has been

Workers’ earnings in the formal sector have drastically declined over the years and poor people are now being recorded among the working populace

in the region of over K200,000 as follows: June K201,200; July K206,150; August K215,350; September, K218,800; October K218,650; November K220,380; and December, K230,920. Our survey so far indicates that the basic monthly sum of the cost for meeting the immediate needs for a family of six in Lusaka falls outside the reach of most of the low and middle-income earners. For instance, the salaries for civil servants during 1998 were "frozen" by Government, in the rang of K95,000 to K155,000.

It is true that most Zambians cannot afford basic nutritional needs as a result of the general drop in their incomes. The Zambia Congress of Trade Unions has observed that workers’ earnings in the formal sector have drastically declined over the years and poor people are now being recorded among the working populace.

The World Bank estimates that over 80% of Zambians live in households that lack adequate means to meet basic daily needs [over 90% in many rural areas]. As wages stagnate or fall in real terms, an increasing number of Zambian families are being forced to go without the normal three meals a day. Even the meals taken have no basic balanced diet. The figures on malnourished children have a telling effect. Many families have to expand economic activities by engaging in extra trade, small-scale business or crime, corruption, and other ills.

The wage policy

The Government and many private employers are unwilling to pay wages which reflect the figures of the rising cost of living according to JCTR’s survey. The figures appear astronomical and beyond reasonable ability to pay. Yet if you look at the combination of goods listed in our food basket, you can see that it falls short of the requirements of a good diet from the nutritional point of view. You can also see that other essential requirements such as housing, water, electricity, fuel, transport, clothing, education and health care have not been included.

This raises a question on the wage policy. It is time the government and private employers, including the Church, started talking seriously about a just wage for all, a wage adequate enough to provide a household with at least a minimum standard of living. Certainly this commitment to a just wage is central to the Church’s social teaching for the building of a just society.

Expanding the food basket

A point to note, of course, is that this food budget is worked out for Lusaka. This means that it might not be applicable to different localities in Zambia. This is because situations vary from one household to another and from place to place. Admittedly, prices vary from one town to another in Zambia. For instance, a loaf of bread which costs K850 in Lusaka may cost over K1,200 in Mongu.

This depends among other factors on the distance involved in the transportation of goods from place of production to the final consumer. This has been particularly true since the Government removed subsidies on fuel and transport. We may therefore have to conduct the same type of survey in other localities of Zambia in order to provide a fairly accurate picture of the rising cost of living in other parts of Zambia as well.

But isn’t it true that Jesus came to comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable?

More important, the items listed in the monthly food basket (a product of survey that was carried out to establish the most basic food stuffs and quantities that families in Lusaka consume) more than likely fall short of the requirements of a good diet from the nutritional point of view. This means that we may have to work out our food basket in accordance with nutritional requirements. If we were to do this we would have to add more food stuffs on our basket. This will certainly make those who are uncomfortable with our current figures even more uncomfortable. But isn’t it true that Jesus came to comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable?

In the future, JCTR may consider expanding the food basket survey as and when deemed necessary in keeping with the service of faith and promotion of justice. As a follow up to our food basket survey, JCTR will soon embark on a household survey to assess the impact of high cost of living on school teachers in Lusaka. This is an effort to highlight some to the unjust structures that are taxing on most of the local population who are low and middle- income earners.

As we cannot address the problem of the suffering for the majority of Zambians as evidenced in the picture presented by our food basket survey without looking more deeply at the causes, we would also have to continue focusing on the ills of some of the macro-economic structures such as SAP, its unfair and ineffective implementation, and its tie to debt servicing. We would also have to keep speaking against malpractices such as mismanagement of public funds, corruption, etc., in the government. Our hope is that over time the process of transformation might begin to effect the economic structures that cause a lot of suffering to the majority of the local people.