Soapbox: Fair food prices By Hamdi Abdel-Azim Over the past few years, food prices skyrocketed in Egypt. Some attribute the phenomenon to irregular climatic conditions, especially the heat wave of last summer. Others say that the chemicals and fertilisers used in farming have harmed crops and undermined agricultural productivity. Others still blame the middlemen. While we may not be able to control the weather, we certainly can control trade. We live in a market economy, but there is no reason for the state not to make sure that price margins are fair and that consumers are given due protection. All countries have a mechanism for doing so. Consumer protection groups are quite common in Western democracies, and we can learn from them. Another idea is for government-owned cooperatives to buy produce straight from farmers, thus eliminating the middlemen and bringing down the final cost for the consumer. We can also revive the produce cooperatives that we used to have in the past and that had been successful in providing food at affordable prices. We cannot let greedy merchants push the prices of foodstuffs beyond the means of the average consumer. If the government doesn't want to intervene directly, at least it can get others to do so. We need to have someone monitoring the market and making sure that consumers are not being cheated. Food is not a luxury, and controlling food prices is not as odd as some would have us think. This week's Soapbox speaker is an expert on economics and former dean of Al-Sadat Academy for Administrative Sciences.
