Around the middle of the business day on Wednesday, December 18, 2019, Merkato, the largest open market in the capital city, was very busy with the usual hustle and bustle. Ehil Berenda, literally translated as "cereal crops floor," was one of the busiest spots where daily labourers were unloading agricultural goods from trucks. At the same time, street vendors were selling food items to customers intent on stocking their kitchens.Biaaba Temam, in his early 30s, was among the crowd looking to buy teffin Ehil Berenda.

Biaaba, a father of two, buys 50Kg of red teffevery two months to feed his family.

Teffis one of the primary foods in Ethiopia. The traditionally grown cereal crop is milled before it is fermented and then baked on large circular clay griddles to make a grey flatbread called injera.

Born in Jimma town, Oromia Regional State, and raised in the capital, Biaaba used to spend around 1,575 Br to buy teffthat would last his family for two months, but lately the price of food items is increasing and becoming hard to afford for many.

“From my experience, this is usually a time when food items decrease in price, because harvested crops start entering the market [during Meher],” Biaaba, said. "But this year the price has shown an increase."

Compared to last month, the price of teffhas increased by close to one Birr a kilogram, according to him.

The current price for a kilogram of red teffis 31.50, while white teffis sold for 35 Br.

Teffis not the only cereal that shows an increase, but wheat, rice, sorghum, maize, barley, bread, beans, peas, vetch, onions, garlic and potato prices are also rising.

This is happening even though the government has announced that it is rolling out serious reforms to cure the macroeconomic imbalances, including rising inflation rates.

However, the rate has been steadily increasing for the past five months and has reached the highest in five years.

Usually, November and December are the months where the supply of food items increases, which normally drags the inflation rate down.

The nation has 71.4 million farmers who cultivate 13 million hectares of land, and last year agricultural production yielded 306 million quintals of grain and crops. Agriculture comprises 35pc of the nation's GDP.

However, data from the Central Statistical Agency shows that both the inflation rate of food and non-food items has flown high. November saw higher inflationary pressure with a 20.8pc headline inflation rate. Food inflation reached 24.5pc, scoring a 1.3 percentage point increase.

Alemtsehay Kidane, who is in her 70s, has been retailing grain and vegetables for the last three decades. She obtains her supplies from wholesalers who get it straight from the farmers.

A mother of seven children, Alemtsehay worries alongside Biaaba about the price escalation of some agricultural products.

“This is the time the Meherharvest enters the market," she says, adding that the untimely rain affected the farmers' products, and the volume of supply was not as much as before. “When we received the crops from wholesalers, the price had increased at least by half a Birr a kilogram."

The prices of major cereals, including teff, wheat, rice, sorghum, maize and barley has shown an increase, according to Alemayehu Teferi, director of household studies & cost statistics at the Agency.

Five years ago in November, the food inflation rate was 4.8pc, while non-food inflation stood at 7.2pc. Since then the inflation rate has climbed five times higher for food items and twice that for non-food items.

"The rate started climbing since November 2018," Alemayehu told Fortune. "Due to the unchanging income of society, people are not affording some goods and services."

The non-food inflation rate has also registered the highest swell with a three-percentage-point rise at 16.4pc pushed up by the rising price of house rent, clothing, footwear, construction materials, firewood, furniture and health care.

Mudin Temam, in his early 30s, opened a boutique three years ago near Stadium, which he says is visited by 15 customers a day. The businessman, who buys a supply of 6,000 Br worth of clothes from Merkato every two weeks, has also noticed the inflation.

He used to get his supplies from a businessperson who imports the products directly from abroad with a relatively fair price. However, six months ago, his supplier stopped providing him with clothes due to the forex crunch.

"Then I started getting my stock from Merkato at a higher price," he said.

Mudin also says that the price of items has significantly increased over the past two months.

"There is an average addition of 50 Br on the products compared to two months before," Mudin told Fortune.

Tadele Ferede (PhD), an associate professor at Addis Abeba University's Economics Department, mentions two reasons for the rising rate of inflation: the supply shortage and the money supply in the economy.