In the late afternoon of Wednesday, March 11, 2020, Ehil Berenda (cereal crops floor), which is located in Merkato, the largest open market in the capital, was busy as usual. Daily labourers were unloading agricultural goods from vehicles, while others were negotiating with the traders to buy food items.

Beletu Kebede, in her early 50s, was among the crowd looking to buy teff. Beletu, a mother of four, buys 20Kg of red teff every month for her family.

Teff is one of the primary food items in Ethiopia. The traditional cereal crop is milled before it is fermented and then baked on large circular clay griddles to make a grey flatbread called injera.

Beletu, born and raised in Addis Abeba, spent 860 Br to buy her usual amount of teff, amazed at the price increase this month. Previously, she used to buy only white teff, which is a higher quality product. But since the price of food is increasing and becoming unaffordable, she buys red teff, a lesser regarded variety, and mixes it with rice and maize.

She thought that since it is a harvest season, the price of food would decrease. Instead, the opposite has happened.

"My expectation was that the price of teffwould decrease or remain constant since the previous month," she said. "But the price shows an increase, and I have to mix the teffwith maize for it to be enough to feed my family."

Compared to two months ago, the price for red and white teff increased by 300 Br and 400 Br per quintal, respectively.

Even though the supply of food increases in February, normally dragging the inflation rate down, this did not happen to the market this year.

The data from the Central Statistical Agency (CSA) shows that headline inflation, an indicator of the cost of living, hit 21.8pc annually last month, the highest rate in six years. The rate jumped by three percentage points the month before last, leading to 18.7pc annual inflation, according to the latest Consumer Price Index from CSA. February's rate is the second-highest in six years after the 22.2pc rate registered in 2014.

Food inflation has marked a 3.1-percentage-point increase to reach 25.1pc, while the non-food inflation rate registered a three-percentage-point rise to 18pc.

"Except for rice and wheat, the price of almost all other cereals rose during the month," reads the report.

The rise in inflation for non-food items has steadily been increasing in recent months mainly due to rises in the prices of khat, coffee, clothing and footwear, house rent, household goods and furnishings, healthcare and automobiles, according to the Agency.

Five years ago in February, the food inflation rate was 9.6pc, while the non-food inflation rate stood at 6.8pc. Since then, the inflation rate has climbed 2.6 times more for both.

Compared with Kenya, whose inflation rate stood at 6.4pc in February of 2020, the highest since April 2019, the current inflation numbers of Ethiopia are alarming.

The wholesalers in Merkato also agree that the price of food items has increased.

Semeneh Yiferu, the owner of a cereal shop in Ehile Bernda, inherited the business from his family.

The father of three sells 20 quintals a week, but his regular customers are not buying as usual. He receives teff from the suppliers from Gojjam, Adda, Bale and Olonkomi in Ambo four times a month.

He currently unloads teff from his suppliers for 3,900 Br and 3,750 Br for white and red teff, respectively.

After considering transportation and labour costs, he sells a quintal of white tefffor 4,300 Br and a quintal of red teff for 3,900 Br. He also sells maize at 1,500 Br, adding about 1.50 Br a kilogram, and wheat for 2,050 Br, the same price as before.

"We don't even know the reason why our suppliers increased the prices," he said. "The farmers are not the beneficiaries, but the brokers always make the profit."

"If I refuse to buy the food items at the prices they offer, they will stop supplying the products to me in the future," he said.

A tefffarmer who also produces maize and wheat says that they do not benefit from the increase in the prices of their products.

Webet Ayel, who lives in Central Goder, West Denbia District, has been farming for the last three decades. The father of five cultivated 15ql of teffand 20ql of maize on his two-hectare plot of land the previous year. But due to the untimely rain, he could not even harvest five quintals this year.

Brokers buy a quintal of teff from him for 3,100 Br, but it costs 1,000 Br more when it is availed to the market. A year ago he sold white tefffor 2,100 Br.

"The middlemen cut the prices when they buy our products," Webet said. "The income we get after selling our crops isn't enough to cover our production cost like fertilisers," he adds.

Harvest crops enter the market in November, December and January, except for maize, which usually comes during the rainy season (Belgand Kiremt) and the data from CSA supports this.

The inflation rate started to grow in July 2017, according to Alemayehu Teferi, director of household studies and cost statistics at the Agency.

The inflation on prices of cereals in February 2020 has increased by 27.9pc compared to the same month last year.