Why ice costs more than bread in Mali
By Priya Sippy
Record-breaking heat means ice cubes now cost more than bread and milk in parts of Mali.
“I’ve come to buy ice because it’s very hot now,” says 15-year-old Fatouma Yattara as she visits her local vendor in the capital, Bamako.
With no working fridge due to prolonged power cuts, she resorts to using ice cubes to preserve food and keep cool during a heatwave which has seen temperatures soar to 48C.
It works to an extent, but price hikes are making life even harder. “In some places it’s 100 francs CFA ($0.20; £0.16)” for a small bag, she says, “even 300, 500 – it’s too expensive.”
This makes ice more expensive than bread – a standard baguette normally costs about 250 CFA.
It is an even bigger struggle for Nana Konaté Traoré, who is now forced to cook every day instead of a few times a week.
“We often go a whole day without power,” she says, “so, the food goes bad, and you have to throw it away”.
The problems began almost a year ago, with Mali’s state power company failing to match growing demand after accumulating hundreds of millions of dollars in debt in recent years. Many Malians do not have back-up generators as it is expensive to refuel them.
