The Zambia Consumer Association (ZACA) has projected that Zambia is likely to have malnourished people due to the high cost of living.
According to the October report of the Jesuit Centre for Theological Reflection – JCTR, the cost of living for a family of five in Lusaka has increased to K9, 294.76 In comparison to the recorded figure of K9, 146.06 in September 2023 which signifies an increase of K148.70.
The report also revealed an increase in food items such as roller mealie meals, beans, kapenta, and charcoal and a decrease in fruits such as mangoes, oranges, and apples.
Speaking in an exclusive interview with the Zambian Business Times – ZBT, ZACA executive secretary Juba Sakala said that due to the high cost of living, some people will be forced to forgo nutritional food stuffs and reduce the number of times they have their meals which will be a threat to their nutrition.
ZACA noted that the high cost of living will also force people who are unable to afford nutritional food to resort to unhealthy food.
He added that due to the anthrax outbreak, the country is also likely to see people buying cheap meat products which might hurt their health.
Meanwhile, Sakala urged consumers to do away with meat products and buy other alternative food products following the increase in anthrax cases.
“This increase of k150 will hurt consumers because we know that now, the people who used to get a certain amount of money have to do more for them to reach that amount. Unfortunately, three-quarters of the people are not even half of the food basket. That will harm consumers because we can see that some people will start forgoing some of the things for them to live to the next income meaning that people will be able to reduce how many times they have their meals and the type of food people will be buying which will be a threat in the sense that we are bound to have malnourished people because people won’t be able to afford food that have higher levels of nutrition. Also, we are looking at a situation where if people have one meal which is not fully balanced then we are bound to have malnourished people because nutritional food is expensive and people cannot manage to buy it so they resort to food which has less nutrition,” he said.
“It’s a worry and fear to all of us because due to the anthrax outbreak, people won’t be buying beef, pork, and goat meat now, as a result, we are bound to see that these types of food will be left and it will become cheaper. So the fear is that since most people’s incomes are low, they might start buying cheap beef which might harm their health. So we just hope that the situation doesn’t get to that level but our call as ZACA is we are urging the people that with the little that they have, let them do away with meat products like beef, pork, and goat meat. Let them look the other way by buying other food products such as fish, chicken, kapenta or beans although these food stuffs might be expensive for them and that is the worry that we have, “said Sakala.
“We hope that government will work round the clock to see to it that this beef issue is really stopped and these shops put in meat that is free from anthrax and also be able to ensure that the cost of living goes down so that those people who have less money can afford nutritional food,” said Sakala.
