Anger Rises in Senegal, West Africa, Over Soaring Food Costs

Rising gas prices, demand for bio-fuels and poor harvests have all contributed to rocketing food prices around the world. In sub-Saharan Africa where most people spend a majority of their income on food, even the smallest rise in food prices puts a serious strain on African families. Uma Ramiah has more from Dakar.

A lively debate has sprung up between Abdou Ndoye and street-side vendors hawking green apples and spotty mangoes on a dusty street of the Senegalese capital.

When Ndoye suggests what he thinks is a fair price for four of the mangoes, the three women sitting behind a rough wooden table before him throw their hands in the air and laugh. They tell him the price is now twice what it was two months ago.

Abdou, a taxi driver in the beachside capital asks the women why they think life is becoming so expensive in the city. They say the government is not doing enough, and also blame bad harvests.

But they are convinced of one thing: if the price of food continues to climb at such rates, there will be trouble in Senegal.

Senegal's president Abdoulaye Wade, in an Independence Day address to the nation this week, announced new measures meant to ease the pain of rising costs.

He says the government has set aside 500 million local CFA francs, or about $1.2 million, to open new food stores with controlled prices to protect consumers from vendors who would unfairly increase costs. He said the government will also cut taxes on civil servant salaries.

The Senegalese government imports almost all of its food. President Wade told his country that in a push towards self-sufficiency, Senegal also needs to start growing its own rice.