EVERY now and then we hear both public and private expressions of discontent over the hike in the cost of living.
In some of the biggest democracies in the world, especially in the US, this has been topical for some time.
The Trump administration’s tariff agenda, experts say, will drive already rising prices further up worldwide.
In Fiji, there have been talks this week about rising costs and Value Added Tax.
The Fiji Labour Party has made fresh calls for more VAT-free food items and the reduction of VAT to 10 per cent.
This was one of the resolutions that came out of the party’s national council meeting in Nadi last week.
“While the Ministers and MPs have taken huge increases in their salaries and allowances, they have caused great hardship to the ordinary people by increasing VAT from 9 per cent to 15 per cent in the 2023/24 Budget,” FLP leader Mahendra Chaudry said.
The current leadership increased VAT from 9 to 15 per cent as a strategic measure to help pay off our burgeoning public debt.
Murmurings of high cost have been stirred around grog bowls, along supermarket aisles, in restaurants, at home, in bed and in public transport. Unions are fighting for pay rise.
I was in a taxi the other day, trying to get to work before 9am, when the PSB driver started a conversation on the price of groceries, even market fresh produce.
Our dialogue even touched the upgrade at the Suva market and how it was taking too long.
My thoughts drifted to the two COVID-19 waves that struck us in 2020 and 2021 and how we were forced to be frugal and smart when putting food on the table.
The regional and nationwide lockdowns and accompanying restrictions during COVID triggered changes in the food environment.
They affected our food choices and our dietary habits in the community. People were unwillingly forced to make healthy choices and live healthier lifestyles.
Who could ever forget those tough times; when every household had a backyard garden where every member of the family expended energy and planted healthy food options. Who could forget the revival of the barter system.
Just around five years after that pandemic, which brought world economies to their knees, we seem to have forgotten all the prudent financial adjustments and strategic decisions we had to make to stretch our hard-earned dollar and weather the ‘storm’.
I guess those survival instincts and superb ideas only come around when we are put between a rock and a hard place and it seems that earthlings are only inclined to do what is best for our family and community’s safety and security, when something tragic happens.
During good and peace times, we tend to be least bothered and wasteful.
On Thursday, my colleague, Verenaisi Raicola, interviewed me on a VAT article she was planning to write for her regular shopping column.
I shared with her the need to be mindful of what we buy and eat, considering the astronomical rise in some of our consumer goods, especially those that we stuff into our mouths.
One of the things I raised with her was the need to supplement our supermarket food consumables with food we can plant in our backyard.
If meat prices increase beyond our ability to procure them, then do we need to continue buying them? No!
We turn to affordable food options. Our eating habits need to be flexible enough to accommodate the new financial climates we go through.
Don’t get me wrong. I am all for VAT reduction but I cannot pin all my hopes on it. I also accept that Government needs to make revenue so that it can help us.
To beat the rise in VAT, we need to reminisce our pandemic days, what we did better and how we were able to survive it when most of us were without jobs and on reduced wages.
That may require us to have a side hustle, cut back on spending or look at cheaper options when buying.
When prices go up, one of the natural effects on the economy is a reduction in citizens’ ability to afford life’s necessities and luxuries.
However, we’ve also learned that when inflation and crises apply pressure on us and our families, they may also encourages us to use money wisely and make good and stringent choices.
Fruits, vegetables and root crops, when eaten wholesome and cooked simple don’t just give us good health.
They save us money. Yes, our backyards can save us money so we can buy something else.
I have a little backyard garden where I live and plant my own eggplants, cabbages, chillies, cassava, dalo, bindi, vudi, banana, pawpaw, bele and so forth.
I feel invigorated every time I wake up in the morning and set my eyes on the kaleidoscope of colours saying hello back at me from the garden.
I am not a full vegetarian and I do not always eat from my garden but one thing it has done is this, it has certainly filled in the blanks, so to speak, and given me more options.
When I have more than enough, I give some to widows and single mums who live around me.
I prepare homemade pickles and jams and donate them to my neighbours. Sometimes I sell vegetables at affordable prices.
Just this week I was reading an article on AI and where it is heading us.
Bill Gates, one of the wealthiest men on the planet, said AI would remove the need to have doctors, lawyers and teachers and other professional jobs we spend a lifetime pursuing. He said only three jobs have yet to be replaced by AI, coders: the architects of AI, energy experts: the guardians of power and biologists -the explorers of life.
I also wildly believe, the little backyard farmer (not commercial ones) won’t be replaced. He or she will always be around, as long as families within four walls exist.
Fiji is blessed with fertile land that we can use to grow healthy food. Planting our own vegetables and fruits at home can help increase our purchasing power, allowing savings on food to pay for bills and other expenses.
Our markets always have a sea of delicious and nutritious food. Let’s eat what is in season, like ivi that is popular at this time of the year and duruka, which is coming up. Let’s make flour out of our wild breadfruit trees, cassava, dalo and kumala and depend less on wheat from overseas which we don’t plant.
Rising food prices and consumer goods will burden struggling families but the key still remains in our hands and one of the easiest ways to deal with the problem is to eat smart, buy smart and plant smart.
It may be a bit of a challenge but it can be done if we have the will to make a change.
Until we meet on this same page, same time next week, stay blessed, stay healthy and stay safe!
