LISTEN: Increasing food prices hurting consumers' pockets

That's the finding of the Pietermaritzburg Agency for Community Social Action.

Its report, released to coincide with World Food Day on Sunday (October 16), shows that food prices in the past year have been increasing above the inflation rate.

The agency's Mervyn Abrahams says drought conditions and the economic climate are contributing factors.

Abrahams says what's more frightening is that the increases have also extended to staple foods, with monthly groceries for lower-income households moving from R1 600 to R1 900.