CAIRO - Many consumers demanded a swift governmental intervention to monitor markets and take whatever measures that deem necessary to reduce the vegetable prices, which soared last month. "The Essam Sharaf Government should take a raft of measures aimed at lowering the retail prices of food that have doubled in March," Ahmed Hussein, a Government employee, has demanded. Hussein, who complains that the retail price of vegetables and fruit had doubled following the January 25 revolution, has accused greedy traders for the crisis. "Who said that the price of one kilo of tomato would reach LE8, and the price of a kilo of melokhiya jumped from LE3 to LE5 in just two days," Fathia Mahmoud, a housewife, said. Fathia has called on the Government to provide the public with their vegetables, fruit, meat, fish and dairy needs at reasonable prices and punish wholesale traders for blackmailing consumers and profiteering after the revolution. She claimed that the present price increase is 'an artificial crisis that has been created by cronies of the former regime to deal a heavy blow to the popular uprising that ousted ex-President Hosni Mubarak on February 11. Vegetables feature heavily in the Egyptian diet and support a huge agricultural sector, which employs millions of farmers. Enayaat Raafat, another housewife living in Cairo, had blamed the Government for the hikes in food prices, which she said was one of the reasons that led to the downfall of Mubarak. "After the revolution, consumers thought the prices of food would fall. But, against all expectations, food inflation will continue to be the biggest concern," Enayaat said. "People ... maybe revolutionaries alone, but they will still have to eat," she said, expecting prices to stay high if the Government does not take action. Magda Ali, a housewife, expressed her fears that suffering of the consuming public in Egypt is likely to continue. "This spike in prices is set to continue this month and perhaps in subsequent months because of the uncertain political situation, which is marred by a counterrevolution and the Government's inaction to control the local markets," Magda lamented. "I am afraid that food inflation will go on rising this month, and it will be difficult for the Government to curb prices," she said. Magda, who is married to a Government employee, said that she lives in fear that her family will go hungry. "After the revolution, I find life even harder than before January 25," she said after forking out more than LE10 to buy just half a kilo of potato and half a kilo of tomato. Ahmed Hassan, a consumer, said that the days of rejoicing after the downfall of the Mubarak regime were over. "Now, the Egyptians are suffering from hugely inflated prices of food," he said, complaining that the prices have soared, while his salary remained the same. Hassan complained that the food prices rose even higher than the Mubarak days. However, Cairo shop owners said the latest price surge came as a result of a rise in the cost of transport and production of vegetables and fruit. "Prices have gone up for both merchants and buyers," said Samir Fanoos, a green grocery. "It now costs me more to have my goods transported from Qaliubia Governorate to the city, and I have to make up for these costs." Fanoos said that the wholesale suppliers and the farmers were the main cause of the problem. "The daily supply of vegetables is not enough and the demand is high," he explained. Many economists said that the proportion of Egyptians living on $2 a day or less had crept over 40 per cent, while in recent years small numbers of people close to Mubarak have become very rich. Salah Mahmoud, a father of three, said that the markets should be ruled with an iron fist, otherwise there will be anarchy in prices. "After the revolution, the lives of the Egyptians with low income did not improve. Instead, prices of food shot up while the wages stayed very low ," he said. He said that during the past week he was not able to buy enough food for his three children and wife.
