A report from United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) has said that high prices of food items in Sri Lanka have created a situation where vulnerable people have to reduce their food consumption or become dependent on substandard foods, and this situation indicates that the country’s food security is in crisis.
The report further states that this situation has a negative impact on the health and nutrition of the people in the country.
According to the United Nations World Food and Agriculture Organization’s Global Information Systems and Early Warning Report, the price of rice, Sri Lanka’s staple food, remained high at the end of last year, and other essential commodities, including wheat flour , sugar and pulses also at exorbiant levels due to foreign exchange crisis. It is said that this situation has worsen due to the depreciation of the rupee.
About 40 percent of Sri Lanka’s daily caloric requirement comes from rice, 12 percent from flour and 10 percent from sugar report says.
According to the FAO, food inflation in Sri Lanka has risen by 22 percent over the past year. Despite rising rice prices stabilizing in December, Sri Lanka’s successful harvest of paddy in the 2022 Maha season has already begun.
Although the Sri Lankan government has taken some steps to control the prices of these essential food items the recent foreign exchange crisis and the depreciation of the local rupee has made it unsuccessful, the report said.
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