HIGHLIGHTS

• In March 2013, the retail price of wheat flour did not change on a month-on-month basis and remained at high levels. Since June 2012, the price has increased by 56% in rural and 47% in urban areas, and by an average of 52% across the country.

• The domestic retail price of wheat flour in March was 42% higher than in the same month of last year and only 4% lower than the peak level of early 2011.

When Zamira Suyunalieva adopted new-born Ariet who was left at her door, she was already struggling to feed her own children. But on a cold, sunny day in the small village of Kyrk-Kazyk no one seemed happier than Zamira as she brought home a ration of food staples. She knew that her six children will stay fed and healthy throughout the freezing winter.

Kyrk-Kazyk, KYRGYZSTAN – Zamira, thin and worn out from a lifetime of hardship, was overjoyed after receiving such critical relief only a few months after making the life-changing decision of taking in Ariet.

Summary:

Since December 2012, Kyrgyzstan is experiencing unusually cold winter with heavy snowfalls and high precipitation level. According to the data obtained from the National Hydro-meteorological service, current temperatures are the lowest for last 76 years (since 1936). In the northern part of the country temperatures reached minus 30-35 degree Celsius. The National Hydro-meteorological forecast service predicts freezing cold weather in January 2013 and February 2013.

HIGHLIGHTS

• In October 2012, the retail price of wheat flour increased by 4% in rural and 5% in urban areas on a month-on-month basis. This means that the price has increased by 53% in rural and 42% in urban areas since June 2012, and an average of 47% across the country.

• The domestic retail price of wheat flour in October was only 7% lower than the peak level of early 2011.

Summary: Series of mudflows occurred on the territory of Naryn, Osh, Jalalabad and Batken regions including remote districts throughout April 2013. Food stocks, home properties, livelihoods and infrastructure have been heavily damaged. According to the Kyrgyz Red Crescent assessment a total of more than 2,310 households were affected in Osh, Batken, Jalalabad and Naryn.

When you see energetic and self-confident Jarkyn Smanalieva rushing from one house to the other calling women for a community meeting in the small mountainous village of Madaniyat east of Bishkek, you would never guess that only three years ago she was an exhausted mother of four.

“We used to think that only men can earn an income and support a family while women were considered unable to bring any money home; women were limited to keeping their houses and raising children,” said Jarkyn. “So, if a husband is unable to make any money, the whole family suffers.”

HIGHLIGHTS

• The price of wheat flour increased by 23% in rural areas and by 27% in urban areas in July 2012, on a month-on-month basis. The price was higher in Chuy, Naryn, Jalalabad and Osh oblasts.

• The national average potato price decreased in July 2012 after two consecutive months of increase. This reflects increased stock from recent harvests.

• The export price of wheat in Kazakhstan, the main exporter to the Kyrgyz Republic, increased by 6% in July 2012 on a month-on-month basis. This will bring upward pressure on domestic prices.

WFP’s food-for-assets activities brought jobs and revived hope for about a hundred people in the isolated village of Min-Kush. The village is nestled in the mountains in the remote province of Naryn, Kyrgyzstan’s poorest region.

OSH [ACTED News] – Early July, ACTED completed the final distributions of food in Osh and Batken – two regions in the South of Kyrgyzstan - reaching out to almost 30,000 households while ACTED oversaw the distribution of wheat flour and oil. The project targeted the most vulnerable households which were not able to access enough food for the whole family. This was carried out through dozens of distribution points across the South of the country where the most vulnerable queued to receive their rations for the spring months. This project is supported by the World Food Programme.