“The finding is worrying”affirmed Tuesday May 10 on franceinfo Claude Baland, president of the Food Banks network while the rise in prices and inflation have “serious consequences” on their organization. Increase in beneficiaries, shortage of products, declining donations, food banks are worried. In addition, the rise in fuel prices is causing a “fall in the number of volunteers, which has fallen for the first time in ten years”he says.
franceinfo: What are the practical consequences of this inflation?
Claude Baland: The price increase is impressive. For example, the price of burgers has increased by 42%. This significant increase has serious consequences. The first consequence is that we fear an increase in the number of people to be helped, a number that is increasing every year. Already in 2003 it increased by 6% and in 2021 it increased by 4%. We fear a higher increase since the cost of food is an adjustment variable while other expenses cannot be reduced. The second consequence is the shortage of basic products, that is to say that there are products that we can no longer buy at all. For example oil, of course, but also sardines. Stocks of oil in Food Banks are dwindling rapidly. The third consequence is the risk of a drop in donations from the agri-food industry and agricultural cooperatives which, obviously, will prefer to sell in the face of this situation, this pressure on prices compared to the donations they made to us . Donations from agri-food industries and agricultural cooperatives are 35% of what is redistributed afterwards. And above all, they give us fresh products, which allowed us to improve the quality of the food distributed.
What other consequences for you?
The rising cost of fuel and electricity also has serious consequences for our means of operation. For example, the Bordeaux Food Bank’s fuel budget increased by 70% in one year. And above all, and we don’t necessarily think about it right away, the rise in the cost of fuel explains the drop in the number of volunteers, which has fallen for the first time in ten years, while the number of volunteers has been steadily increasing. We’re having trouble finding volunteers because now they’re telling us what’s more, it’s going to be expensive to come and do our volunteer work. The finding is worrying for us because at the same time we fear an increase in beneficiaries while we have a drop in our operating resources.
Are you calling for mobilization?
We therefore obviously need to benefit from additional mobilization on the part of the public authorities, local communities, our sponsors, because there are many agri-food industries that help us and individuals who are up to Our needs. And we are going to be particularly mobilized to solicit the generosity of our fellow citizens during the national collection of the last weekend of November.