Food prices skyrocket

Harare, Zimbabwe

The government this week announced a 700 percent rise in the price of corn, the main staple in Zimbabwe. An 11-pound bag of cornmeal now costs $1.45, up from 21 cents last week. The government of President Robert Mugabe said it would use the extra money to pay farmers more, hoping to encourage greater production of food. But the measure hits the poor, many of whom have already been reduced to one meal a day, and it probably comes too late to influence agricultural practice. Zimbabwe’s economy has been in freefall since Mugabe took over the most prosperous, white-owned farms in 2000. The annual inflation rate is 2,200 percent, the highest in the world.

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