{"id":122497,"date":"2022-02-01T00:02:19","date_gmt":"2022-02-01T06:02:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=122497"},"modified":"2022-01-31T16:51:45","modified_gmt":"2022-01-31T23:51:45","slug":"sri-lankan-families-go-hungry-as-cost-of-food-skyrockets","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2022\/02\/01\/sri-lankan-families-go-hungry-as-cost-of-food-skyrockets\/","title":{"rendered":"Sri Lankan families go hungry as cost of food skyrockets"},"content":{"rendered":"

By<\/span>Joe Wallen,<\/span><\/a>\u00a0SOUTH ASIA CORRESPONDENT<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>and<\/span>\u00a0Nishantha Hewage<\/span><\/a>\u00a0IN COLOMBO courtesy The Telegraph<\/span><\/span><\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n

The country’s worst economic crisis, compounded by a disastrous switch to organic farming, leaves impoverished unable to buy essential items <\/h4>\n\n\n\n
\"Sujeewa
Sujeewa Malkanthi, 48, who lives in Sinharamulla with her 10-year-old son and partially sighted husband, has been unable to buy medication which has resulted in a goitre swelling in her neck CREDIT: Samantha Perera<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Dinner time has become Susila Irangani\u2019s least favourite time of the day. Nowadays, the 62-year-old never knows whether she will be able to put food on the table for her two daughters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The price of essential foodstuffs \u2013 from dhal to eggs \u2013 have doubled in her village of Dummalasuriya in Sri Lanka\u2019s northwestern province over the last year alone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We used to have three meals a day but now we are having to skip dinner because of the little income that we have. This is all because of the increase in prices of essential goods,\u201d said Ms Irangani.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The cost of living is such that we cannot even think of having a balanced meal.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The housewife says her family can no longer afford to purchase meat or vegetables when they do eat and that the extortionate price of kerosene has sent her husband into the nearby forests to collect firewood.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How can a family like us survive with the soaring prices of essential items?\u201d asks Ms Irangani. Does the government want us to starve and die?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Susila
Susila Irangani says her family can no longer afford to purchase meat or vegetables CREDIT: Samantha Perera<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Impoverished Sri Lankans say they cannot purchase enough food to eat, as the country endures the worst economic crisis in its history, which was compounded by a disastrous decision to switch to organic farming last year.Advertisement<\/p>\n\n\n\n