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Consumer Voice for Fair Food Prices
Consumers are facing a crisis due to the unaffordability of healthy, sustainable and locally-produced foods.
The high price of locally-produced fruits, vegetables and legumes, especially compared to imported grains, is one of the key barriers to healthy and sustainable consumption. This challenge has only intensified since 2022, as food prices have soared for consumers worldwide.
Consumer Voice for Fair Food Prices brings together consumer groups and competition authorities – especially in low and middle-income contexts where the impacts are most severe – to build momentum for action, by generating new evidence and shaping shared solutions. This work has been made possible with support from The Rockefeller Foundation, COMESA Competition Commission, Competition Authority of Kenya, Nigeria's Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission, the Ghana International Trade Commission, and Consumers International Members in the region.
Our impact
To address this issue, we:
- Brought together leading consumer associations in 20+ countries in Africa with national policymakers to map the state of affordability for healthy and sustainable foods. This revealed a systemic need for stronger data, public buy-in for change, and a greater role for competition and consumer policy.
- Developed the Fair Food Price Monitor – a price data analysis mechanism for civil society. In Kenya, Ghana and Nigeria this allowed marketplace actors to spotlight increasing divergences between retail and wholesale prices.
- Established Fair Food Prices Coalitions – unique connections between over 200 organisations including consumer groups, farmers, businesses and government for trusted outreach.
- Reached 30+ million people through a media campaign across major print, TV, and radio channels.
- Worked with consumer groups and farmer associations to develop a low cost, grassroots methodology for food price data collection across farmgate, wholesale and retail levels. This included difficult-to-track products such as fruits, vegetables and legumes.
- Saw regulatory responses across Nigeria, Kenya, and Zambia, and we expect more to follow. All the authorities we worked with expressed a strong desire to continue our collaboration.
Discover the full impact story of our initiative, including the steps taken, the successes achieved, and what lies ahead in our mission to ensure fair pricing for all.
Taking action in Africa
Eleven of the 22 ‘hunger hotspots’ identified by the World Food Programme (WFP) in 2023 are in sub-Saharan Africa, where staple food prices increased by an average of 24% between 2020-2022, and more than 90% of the population cannot afford a healthy diet.
Climate crisis and the COVID-19 pandemic contributed to this phenomenon, but there was also a clear risk that inefficiencies and distortions in national markets were making good food less affordable.
In 2023, Consumers International brought together competition authorities, trade ministries, and consumer groups from across 21 African countries, to share experiences of unfair prices, and explore national and regional solutions. Participants highlighted the need for stronger data, public buy-in for change, and a greater role for competition and consumer policy.
The Fair Food Price Monitor
To fill this crucial evidence gap on fair food prices, both in Africa and in other regions, we developed a new tool for consumer organisations – the Fair Food Price Monitor, an early warning system for identifying increasing divergences between retail and wholesale prices.
At the Consumers International Global Congress in Nairobi, in December 2023, we launched three pilot evidence briefs – together with our Members in Kenya, Nigeria, and Ghana – exposing a growing divergence between retail and wholesale prices in many key markets.
Building bridges for shared solutions
Members in Kenya, Nigeria, and Ghana have also convened Fair Food Price Coalitions in each country – bringing together stakeholders including consumers, farmers, traders, workers, women, youth, and more – to share evidence, and advocate collectively for the solutions needed.
In partnership with authorities in each country – the Competition Authority of Kenya (CAK), Nigeria’s Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC), and the Ghana International Trade Commission (GITC) – Members convened multi-stakeholder dialogues to launch these coalitions, and are continuing to work closely with these authorities to champion the importance of consumer protection and competition action to the rest of government.
Next steps
In 2024 we aim to maintain the momentum in Kenya, Nigeria, and Ghana, generating new evidence through the Fair Food Price Monitor and convening stakeholders to shape solutions. We will also work to apply and adapt this approach in other countries across Africa, and in other regions.
Stronger action at international level is also needed to tackle unaffordable prices in global food systems. We highlighted this issue in a side event at the Committee on World Food Security, as well as at this year's UNCTAD Intergovernmental Group of Experts on Competition Law and Policy, and will be continuing to scale up action throughout 2024.
If you would like to join our work in Kenya, Nigeria, and Ghana, to help fight for affordable healthy and sustainable diets in other national and regional contexts, or to collaborate in driving action at global level please contact: impact@consint.org.
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