IRIN News - “I used to come each Ramadan to collect rice cooked with meat given out each day at Iftar [an evening meal to break the fast] from a big house near where I live,” said Zahida Bibi, 50, a widow who works as a washerwoman to raise four daughters.
“It was the best food we ate in months. Usually we survive on ‘rotis’ [flat bread] and pickles eaten twice a day because that is all we can afford.” She said no food was being handed out this year, as the home owners had instead decided to donate to flood victims.
“So, what are people like us to do?” asked Zahida who earns Rs 5,000 (US$58) a month. She said the increased prices during Ramadan put even the items they usually eat out of reach. “We often go hungry - and this has nothing to do with the fast,” she said.
Others report similar problems. “We look forward to Ramadan because it means better food. Rich people donate items like sweetened milk with almonds,” said Faisel Hamid, 15, a seminary student in Lahore. “But this year few have been sending in items to our school to feed the 100 or so children there. It may be because times are hard or because money is going to flood victims.”
Faisel, like many other pupils at the seminary, was enrolled there as his parents were too poor to raise him and his two brothers.
Paradox
Paradoxically, consumption rises during Ramadan.
Uzma Hamid, 40, a Lahore housewife whose husband earns Rs 20,000 [$233] a month, told IRIN: “From my budget of Rs 5,000 [$58] for the monthly groceries, I usually save a little. In Ramadan, I spend at least Rs 6,000 [about $70].”
During Ramadan families expect a variety of delicacies. This means that retailers, hoping to increase profits, push up the prices of items like chick pea flour, sugar, fruit and other items used to make the most popular traditional dishes.
“We don’t mean to create hardships, but we must also find means to feed our own families,” Muhammad Hussain, a general store owner, told IRIN.
Ineffective subsidy system
Normally during Ramadan the government makes available stocks of basic food items at subsidized prices but this does not appear to be happening on a systematic basis this year in many big cities.
For example, local media have reported flour, sugar and meat not being available at Lahore markets set up by the government to sell food at controlled prices during Ramadan.
However, the district coordination officer for Lahore, Sajjad Bhutta, told IRIN: “We are ensuring the availability at reasonable prices of onions, potatoes and other food items which are in high demand during Ramadan.”
Annual food price inflation was 12.34 percent in July, according to the Federal Bureau of Statistics, but it is feared the floods may be stoking inflation, and extra demand during Ramadan could aggravate the problem.
“The vegetables are not coming in from many areas, due to the floods. Road links are in bad shape. There is a shortage and therefore prices are up, and the fact that it is Ramadan means there is increased demand,” said Muhammad Baksh, a vegetable seller. “A few days ago, I sold onions at Rs 30 [$0.34] a kilogram. Today they have risen to Rs 40 [$0.46]; tomatoes have doubled in a week and are now selling for Rs 80 [$0.93] a kilogram,” he said.