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The United Nations estimated that 4.6 million people, more than a third of Haiti's population, will suffer from hunger this year. However, some of its citizens told Sputnik Agency that they fear the situation will worsen.
"Fewer and fewer people are able to make large purchases and this figure is decreasing with the high prices of products," Ronald, who for a decade has owned a small food store in Peguy Ville, southeast of the capital, told this agency.
According to the UN World Food Program, 1.3 million people may be living in an emergency situation, also aggravated by political instability, inflation, and natural disasters such as last August's earthquake in rural areas of the country.
The earthquake hit the southern departments of Haiti with fury, resulting in more than 2,200 deaths and losses valued at more than 1 billion dollars, in addition to the constant devaluation of the national currency against the dollar, which reduces purchasing power.
"We have had to adjust at home because salaries have barely increased and prices are skyrocketing. The situation we are living in is very difficult, despite the fact that two salaries are coming into the home," said Guerline Wilson, who at 35 years of age is married, has three children and her income does not exceed $200 per month.
Hunger in #Haiti is on the rise.
— World Food Programme (@WFP) March 22, 2022
��The country is one of several facing a combined force of climate shocks, conflict, rising costs, & the lasting effects of the pandemic.
Humanitarian support has been critical to help families recover, but many remain in the clutches of hunger.
According to the analysis of the National Food Security Commission, 1.32 million people, 13 percent of the population, are classified in an emergency situation, and 3.8 million (32 percent) in crisis.
In addition, the coastal zone of the South Department, the lowlands of the Northwest, the highlands, La Gonave Island, the western banana plain and poor neighborhoods such as Cité Soleil in Port-au-Prince have more than 15 percent of their inhabitants in a crisis phase.
In this context, basic foodstuffs such as rice and meat have almost tripled in price since 2018, while the government has only approved two salary increases in 2019 and 2022, considered insufficient by workers.
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