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| The already disadvantaged children are confronted with the effects of the food crisis - Photo: Christian Martinelli |
At least 5.2 million in metropolitan Mexico City (of a total of 30 million inhabitants in the greater metropolitan area; overall country population 103 million inhabitants) do not have easy access to food. They are the ones suffering most from the increased food prices. The situation for the already poor and disadvantaged people will worsen as the prices continue to increase and it has become more difficult to cover their daily basic needs.
Many people started moving from the countryside to major urban areas some 15 to 20 years ago in the hope of finding work. This resulted in big clusters of urban poor surrounding these cities. The low wages were based on the premise that food is cheap. Now that the food prices have increased immensely without a corresponding rise in wages, the urban poor are the ones who are affected most. Contrary to those in rural areas, these people do not have the option of cultivating food to supplement what they can buy.
People in Mexico mainly live on rice, beans, tortilla, corn, and chilli. Rice is one of the main products in the Mexican’s diet. The country does not produce enough of the cereal and is dependent on importing 52.5 % from elsewhere. During the first two weeks of May, its price increased by about 14% (a total increase of 40% since December 2007). The costs of other staple foods have also risen tremendously: for tortilla one now pays an additional 22%; for chicken an additional 9% and for bread there is an extra cost of 6%. Soup and ground meat have become slightly cheaper, but all in all the price increase prevailed.
Children in the whole country are affected. President Felipe Calderón announced an emergency plan to deal with the crisis. In a television speech on 26 May he guaranteed to take measures such as lowering taxes in order to keep staple food prices affordable. For the less fortunate families he wants to secure access to affordable basic food such as maize flour and milk.
Affects on life
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| The family budget is tight. SOS mothers are adapting their cooking - Photo: Christian Martinelli |
Like in many other countries the problem is not food shortage, but its affordability. Many Mexican people spend most of their income on food. How are people coping with the soaring food prices? There has been a shift in what they buy. As not everything is affordable these days, food is bought in smaller quantities.
The situation is similar in the SOS Children's Villages, where ways have to be found to cope with the price increases. As the SOS families have a fixed budget that has not yet been adapted, it has become a big challenge to cover all food expenses The SOS mothers shop around and look for cheaper food in order to provide for their children. When Maria goes to the market to buy her weekly demand of cereals, vegetables and fruit, she takes some extra time to compare the prices in order to make sure she gets a good bargain. She, as many other SOS mothers, has to reduce other expenses such as artistic activities in order to use this money for food. Despite this extra challenge, the children in the SOS Children's Villages are attending school and receiving all support they normally would.
Since the situation has become worse, SOS Children's Villages has witnessed that many families who receive support in the framework of the family strengthening programmes, now use financial support solely for food. Lariza A. Meléndez Enríquez from SOS Children's Villages Mexico and responsible for sponsorship points out, that "even before this food pricing crisis it was very difficult to handle this programme with just $20 per child per month. Nowadays it is almost impossible.
Moreover, as many more families are finding it harder to meet their basic needs, many families are turning to SOS Children's Villages' family strengthening programmes. However, SOS Children's Villages Mexico says that "we do not have the spaces to assist all families who need this programme."
Reasons for the price increase
In Mexico a combination of several factors amounts to the increase of food prices.
One of the main reasons that has to be considered, is that due to the Mexican economy's close linkages to the US economy, the depreciation of the US Dollar strongly affected the price increase of agricultural products. Mexico does not produce enough food for consumption and thus a high percentage of food has to be imported.
SOS Children's Villages Mexico is witnessing increased strain on families in the communities it works in. In its efforts to tackle the situation, it intends to join forces with other NGOs.
On-site experiences
SOS Children's Villages Mexico gives a brief on-site account of how the rising food prices have affected its programmes:
Family Strengthening Programme in Mexico
"One of the programs in Mexico, which is being most affected by this crisis, is the family strengthening program in Mexico. Everything is harder in a huge city like Mexico. Even before the crisis it was complicated to run this program in Mexico. Due to the fact that it is so complicated to build alliances and governmental support, everything has to be solved by SOS Children's Villages and the families themselves. Since the beginning of this crisis, the families who are in the programmes have seen how much the prices have increased: for example, rice from 12 USD to 22 USD, corn oil from 20 USD to 30 USD and beans from 12 USD to 20 USD. In order to keep up the availability of high quality food it was necessary to request a little money from the children’s parents to cope with this crisis."
SOS Children's Village Tehuacan
Due to the higher food prices, the families are starting to use up their savings. Families are already exhausting the money they had planned to use for school graduation parties. Nowadays, families can not continue to live on the same amount of money. They have to expand their budget. The village is dependant on donations of goods such as: milk, corn flour, beans, soy, rice, tuna, gelatin etc. However, there isn't enough for the whole community. A spokesperson of SOS Children's Village Tehuacan says: "We expect that if food prices continue to increase, we will have troubles with the family budget for the third quarter."
SOS Children's Village Mexico
"The food crisis has not yet affected the village. There have not been any drastic changes in the families’ life style. However, people are expecting a continuation of the food price increase and with it direct consequences for the families’ budget."
SOS Children's Village Morelia
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| SOS mother Lety is trying to find a way to make ends meet - Photo: L. Meléndez |
"The families of the SOS Children's Village Morelia can mainly feel the food price increase when the SOS mothers buy milk, corn oil, tortillas and eggs. The change started last month. The corn oil’s price has increased from 1.8 USD to 4.6 USD in just one month. Some families have started to use money from their savings, intended for uniforms, in order to continue buying the same quantity of products. Families are scared about what the situation will be like in the following months. An additional tortilla’s price increase came into effect on Monday, 2 June 2008. In order to save some money, people in Morelia are advised to do their shopping at the local supermarkets. However, also the small businesses have been affected."
SOS Children's Village Tijuana
SOS Children's Village Tijuana has started taking actions against the food crisis some months ago when the rice problem was first recognized. The village came up with the idea of requesting food donations. "We launched a rice collection and today we have a reserve which will be enough for the next six months. We also started asking for other products such as milk, beans, grain products etc. a huge amount of all these products has been given to us, but we still need more." In the village the main topic of the people is the food crisis. For example the corn oil price, just like other main goods (beans, milk, eggs), has tripled.
If the food prices continue to rise, families will have to start using savings initially intended for school and stationary stuff. "If children start school this will be a problem, and therefore we are also doing a school and stationary stuff collection. If we had not previously started these preventions, the family budget would have been heavily affected."
Family Strengthening Programme Comitan
"This program has not been affected yet, because the families in this programme are provided with food from governmental authorities. The products range from main products such as rice, beans, sugar, corn oil, milk, soup to corn flour. Each family is supplied with 300 kg of beans, 300 kg of rice, 25 kg of sugar, 25 milk boxes with 12 liters and 150 packages of milk each. "
SOS Children's Village Tuxtla
"The SOS mothers in this village have already discussed the difficult situation with the director in April. They realised changes in their expenses mainly for oil corn, sugar, meat and groceries. They have had to start using the savings for uniforms, school registration payments, and shoes.
They have not been able to buy new clothes since December. In addition the SOS mothers have to invest much time looking for cheaper goods and they can not buy the same quantity of goods. The families used to eat meat three or four times per week, whereas nowadays they can’t have meat as often as they used to.
They try to go to supermarkets so that they can save some pesos, but the public transportation price has also increased and therefore they don't go to supermarkets very often."