PRESS RELEASE 7 FEBRUARY 2002

7 FEBRUARY 2002

FROM FOOD BASKET TO BASIC NEEDS BASKET:
JCTR EFFORT FOR MORE ACCURATE AND ADEQUATE COST OF LIVING ESTIMATES

The Economic and Social Development Research Project of the Jesuit Centre for Theological Reflection (JCTR) has made major changes in the six-year history of the Food Basket research. The changes are both in name and content. The JCTR monthly Food Basket will now be called the Basic Needs Basket and includes nutritionally based data.

According to Muweme Muweme, Coordinator of the Economic and Social Development Research Project, the changes are a consequence of responses to recommendations that were received at the end of 2001 from several users of the Food Basket that included trade unions, women's groups, academics, nutritionists, the Central Statistical Office (CSO) and the media. The change is also an effort aimed at making the monthly Food Basket more accurate and adequate in highlighting the plight of the poor.

''As the 2002 National Budget is about to be presented to Parliament, it is important that citizens and policy makers have an adequate and accurate picture of the cost of living in Zambia,'' says Muweme. This would among other things facilitate designing policies that will be more responsive to the needs of the majority of Zambians, especially the poor. The cost of living has continued to rise impacting negatively particularly at food consumption by many households both in terms of quantities and nutritional balance.

Muweme also observes that the rising cost of living has an obvious telling effect on the health of the people and subsequently development needs and efforts of Zambia. For this reason and because of the strong correlation between food intake -- especially nutritionally balanced food intake -- and welfare, the JCTR has found it imperative to include in its Basic Needs Basket nutritionally based data. This is aimed at giving a picture of the cost of nutritionally based food requirements for a family of six.

The newly introduced Basic Needs Basket for the month of January for a family of six in Lusaka costs K816,250. ''At first glance this figure may seem astronomically high,'' comments Muweme, ''any Zambian reflecting on the demands of their real situation will acknowledge that it is a true reflection of the cost of living.'' It is realistic in that in addition to presenting nutritionally balanced food items (whose total amounts to K324,650), the Basic Needs Basket includes the cost of housing in medium density area (averaging K350,000) and other non-food essentials (amounting to K141,600).

The current high cost of living is also manifesting itself in the price of mealie meal. While the average in Lusaka for the month of December was K27,000, the average for January 2002 is K36,000. The cost of mealie meal is one issue that has been a subject of discussion for a long time in Zambia but has seen no change towards making the commodity affordable to most households which already spend a huge percentage of their income on food with little or no income at all to spend on other needs such as health, education, etc..

Notable Changes

One of the major changes introduced in the new format is that of separating food items from non-food items and the cost highlighted separately. This means that the overall total cost of the Basic Needs Basket is the sum of the total cost of food items and non-food items. Some important additions in the overall Basic Needs Basket include food items such as milk, kapenta, beans and non-food items such as electricity, water and housing.

It is also important to note that some other additional costs that are a key part of the daily lives of people have not been included in the calculation of the total for the Basic Needs Basket. However, because of their importance, their estimates are given separately. These include transport, education and health. Moreover, estimates for other human requirements such as personal care, clothing, recreation, etc., are not given because they are difficult to capture accurately.

Other changes include the expansion of the Lusaka sampling area to make the Basic Needs Basket survey more representative. This has meant addition of other sampling areas to the previous areas of data collection. The current areas of data collection are Northmead, Matero, Chawama, Kabwata, City centre (Shoprite), Soweto and Chainda.

Significant implications of the changes

Undoubtedly, these changes introduced have significant implications. Two of them are,

· Because of the inclusion of some essential food and non-food items, the cost of the Basic Needs Basket is significantly higher than the previous Food Basket. However, this is a reflection of a realistic situation taking into account costs such as nutritionally necessary items and housing, electricity, water, etc.

· Comparison of the new cost of Basic Needs Basket with the cost of the Food Basket in previous months or years will now not be exactly possible because the two formats differ in content and sampling. However, what is lost in the value of comparability is more than balanced by the new accuracy and adequacy presented in the new Basic Needs Basket.

Muweme further says that since this is a first attempt at designing the Basic Needs Basket, there will obviously be the need for some improvements and refinement. JCTR will therefore be pleased to receive comments or responses over this new proposal.

''What JCTR needs,'' says Muweme, ''is an effective tool in its continued campaign for more just social and economic policies in Zambia.''