Ivory Coast: Heat wave worsening inflation, precarity

Gouro market is a popular spot right in the center of Abidjan, the economic capital of the Ivory Coast. It is here that almost all food crop vendors come to stock up.

But at present, some basic items, like tomatoes, chillies, eggplants, okra or bananas, are in short supply. And those that are for sale come at a steep price.

This comes much to the dismay of customers like Louisette Kouame, who has come to the market to buy groceries for her family.

''We can't afford anything," Kouame told DW. "If you come today, a kilo of onions will cost 500 [West African] CFA francs [€0.76, $0.83]. The next day, it's 800 francs. A kilo of tomatoes costs 2,000 francs. We can't prepare anything."

Viviane Tagro, who owns a restaurant, is facing similar difficulties.

"Usually, I can get all I need for 100,000 CFA francs. But today, that isn't enough, and so I didn't buy anything. Just four tomatoes at 500 francs," Tagro said.

Difficult conditions exacerbated by climate

The main cause for this recent inflation is the fact that Ivory Coast has to import many of these products.

For onions, tomatoes and potatoes, Ivory Coast relies on produce from Burkina Faso, Niger and Morocco. Trade in the region has been affected by the growing militant threat in the Sahel region, as well as the junta-led governments of Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso quitting the ECOWAS regional bloc — an economic union tasked with promoting integration in the region.

Yvonne Goley Lou, a local food producer who also presides over Gouro market, says that the high temperatures since the start of the year have been exacerbating the short supply of fruits and vegetables.

''There's one thing we need to understand," Goley told DW. "Food production has not been modernized. It's been done in an archaic way for years now. We work by hand, we water with watering cans, and we have a rainfall problem; it doesn't rain. So our yields are down."

She also warned that things are not going to get easier: "With the global warming we're seeing now, can you water with a watering can to put the right amount of water on the plant? If you have a hectare, can you water it with the watering can for a whole day?"

Price hikes for more than one reason

Ranie-Didice Bah-Kone, Executive Secretary of the National Council to Combat the High Cost of Living (CNLVC), meanwhile says that there is at least some hope on the horizon.

''What you need to know is that food products are seasonal," she told DW. "When it's the season, they're in high availability. High availability means lower prices. So in a few weeks' time, things will be back to normal."

CNLVC is presided over by the Prime Minister and the Minister of Commerce, and was created to ensure transparency for Ivory Coast's staple foods. Day-by-day prices and trends are displayed on its website so people can make educated choices.

However, Bah-Kone's predictions might not fit every context — especially for imported products, according to Soumahoro Ben N'Faly, President of the Ivory Coast Active Consumers Association.

He insists that regular police checks are contributing to a hike in prices, with corruption and extortion allegedly pushing prices sky-high.

''A truckload of cabbage, tomatoes, onions, peppers, beans, potatoes and peanuts from the northern border to Abidjan pays 200,000 francs in false fees alone. The forces of law and order ... stop and extort the motorists," he told DW.

Meanwhile, the prices for non-produce staples like rice, oil, sugar and milk are also on the rise, as are transport costs and commercial property rents.

The general feeling among Ivorians, when it comes to inflation and the cost of living, is that things are likely to get worse before they get better.

This article was originally published in French.