Why can’t food be made affordable?

Egg prices dominated the news headlines over the last few weeks. When the price of eggs was coming down, some NPP politicians pointed out that unlike in the past ministers do not earn commissions from egg traders and hence consumers could buy the commodity at benign prices. The price of eggs is determined by forces of supply and demand, and it has nothing to do with politicians pocketing commissions.

Accessibility to nutritious and protein-dense food has become a challenge to many in the island over the last few years. Protein is essential for growth and development in children, teens, and pregnant women. Particularly, options of animal protein – like chicken and eggs – are complete proteins as they provide all the essential amino acids the human body demands. Eggs and chicken represent vital elements of Sri Lanka’s protein intake. Chicken is the preferred mode of protein in Sri Lanka in terms of meat, as the consumption of red meat is low due to cultural/religious reasons. On the other hand, eggs are the most sought-after source of protein because refrigerators are not commonly available across households.

High cost of maize, which is a major energy feed ingredient in the diets of poultry, is one of the prime causes for the unavailability of chicken and eggs at affordable prices. Strangely, despite disturbing levels of malnutrition among children, successive governments have imposed high import duties for maize although the local maize production is not sufficient to satisfy the demand. 

Food is the most critical necessity of mankind, yet the nation’s policymakers have no qualms in slapping tariffs on essential food items even though they are not produced locally at all or not in enough quantities to fulfil the domestic requirements. Sadly, due to the economic illiteracy of the islanders, a misconception exists that every possible crop needs to be cultivated within the country disregarding the theory of comparative advantage as well as matters like financial viability.

Few days ago, the Government hiked import taxes on several food items consumed by the poorest households in Sri Lanka such as Maldives Fish and lentils. During the election campaign, President Dissanayake assured voters that he would bring down the food prices by removing the exorbitant taxes. Rise in food prices adversely affects the standard of living of the less-affluent communities, as a significant proportion of their incomes are spent to buy food. Policy makers frequently hike taxes on wheat flour with the intention of aiding paddy farmers and this practice adversely impacts plantation workers as well as labourers who consume flour-based products on a daily basis.

Left-leaning administrations have demonstrated a tendency to make use of measures such as subsidies and import duties to safeguard the interest of landed proprietors in rural constituencies without considering the ramifications of such lopsided moves on the working class. There is an influential group in Sri Lanka which drives the narrative that import taxes on food items must remain high to safeguard the interests of politically powerful rent-seeking groups and achieve so-called self-sufficiency at the expense of consumers.

Some justify discouraging food imports on the grounds of achieving food security. However, their understanding of the concept of food security is not accurate. Ignorant islanders perceive achieving self-sufficiency in terms of producing all the food consumed by inhabitants within the country as food security. On the contrary, food security is accomplished when all people, at all times, have physical and economic access to sufficient, safe, and nutritious food that meets their dietary needs in addition to food preferences for an active and healthy life as per the 1996 World Food Summit’s declaration.

A paradigm shift in the thinking pattern of policy makers is imperative to adopt a holistic approach which would result in ensuring food security for the beleaguered islanders besides abandoning the mindless penchant towards protectionism and restrictive practices that stifle free trade and compromise the well-being of consumers.