Central must be food bowl

 I REFER to the letter “Food supply shortage causes price hike in NCD” (The National, July 11).

The writer hit the nail on the head.

When there is a lack of supply, demand pushes the price up.

The garden food supply coming into NCD markets is insufficient as the consumption rate has in­creased.

This is from my observation.

The nearest food bowl province is Central and I agree that it should take the lead to supply NCD with more than 100,000 tonnes of food annually.

Why it is not doing so is beyond me.

A good example of garden food prices staying constant and cheap is in Mt Hagen. 

Western Highlanders are really cultivating their land and the regular supply has maintained the prices of garden produce there despite inflation of other processed goods.

The NCDC and Central provincial government must address this critical and profound issue imme­diately.

Richard Makio

Port Moresby