4.15 MB - Food Security Clusters

Map 7.1 – Road accessMarket prices of food commodities have beenrising persistently in South Sudan. Grainshortage, poor road conditions, high fuel pricesand depreciation of the Sudanese poundunderlie these price inflations. The overall yearon-yearinflation reached almost 80 percent inMay 2012 (see Figure 7.1).Terms of Trade between food items andlivestock have also deteriorated in recentmonths. For example, based on WFP’s pricemonitoring data, terms of trade between whitesorghum and medium sized goats (male)declined by some 35 percent in the first monthsof 2012 compared to the five year average(2007 – 2011).The Government of South Sudan derives closeto 98 percent of its revenue from oil productionand presently depends on Sudan to export itsoil. Therefore, South Sudan’s economy isvulnerable to fluctuations in oil prices in theglobal market and is also heavily dependent onits political relationship with Sudan.Any disruption in oil production, as witnessed in2012, threatens the macro-economic stability ofthe country and undermines its ability to meetits immediate food needs through imports and,in the long-term, develop the large potential inagriculture, livestock and fisheries.In the absence of sufficient own production, theSouth Sudanese are heavily reliant on marketsfor their food consumption which meansconsumption is significantly affected by therecent rise in food prices.As shown in chapter 1 and 3, households buy onaverage 63 percent of their calorie intake and astaggering 79 percent of total householdexpenditure goes to buying food.In the face of continuous and accelerating highfood prices, shortage of foreign exchange andlimited transport capacity the ability of SouthSudanese households to purchase food inmarkets will be further eroded.44