Life in a Time of Food Price Volatility, Year 1 Findings- podcast

Major shifts in food prices as seen in past five years are significant events in people's lives, particularly for people on low incomes who can spend more than half their income on food. So in 2012 Oxfam GB and IDS started a four-year project with partners in ten countries to track its impacts, called Life in a Time of Food Price Volatility. Squeezed is the first of four yearly reports from the project.

The report reveals that food price volatility was no longer a cause of shock or crisis, but instead, a heavy constant pressure, impacting on people's health, wellbeing, family, work and social life. In this short podcast, Zoe Sullivan highlights the report's key findings and their implications. Marty Chen, International Coordinator of WIEGO and Lecturer in Public Policy at the Harvard Kennedy School, was interviewed for this podcast featuring the new publication and the topic of food price volatility.  In the podcast, she notes that food price volatility affects street vendors who sell food -  when food prices go up they cannot always pass on the increased price to their customers, making it hard for them to earn a living.

Read the full report.

Read a summary of the report.