The average price of a food basket targeting low-income South African households eased 0.9% month on month in August, though it was still up 1.8% compared with last year.Twenty-five of the 44 food items in the basket tracked by civil society organisation Pietermaritzburg Economic Justice and Dignity (PMBEJD) decreased in price, while 19 saw an increase.The organisation says while food prices, as reflected in the national consumer price index, have only shifted marginally each month since spiking 2.3% in April, the accumulative higher costs have dented the ability of poor households to put enough food on the table as they contend with higher transport costs linked to the Middle East conflict and electricity tariff increases of 8.76% this year.The August report, published on Tuesday, shows that the price of onions, chicken gizzards, beef tripe, fish, peanut butter and brown bread rose 2%-4% while potatoes, beef and butternut cost 5%-8% more compared with July.Food items in the basket that decreased in price included tomatoes, carrots, cabbage, green pepper, apples, oranges, maize meal, samp, salt, frozen chicken portions, curry powder, stock cubes, soup, chicken feet, spinach, Cremora and bananas.This resulted in the average cost of the household food basket dipping by R50.72 in August to R5,479.80, though it was up R99.18 over the same month last year.The PMBEJD’s household affordability index tracks the prices of basic foods from 52 supermarkets and 36 butcheries targeting the low-income market in Joburg, Durban, Pietermaritzburg, Mtubatuba, Cape Town, Mthatha and Springbok.Read: R200m bet on SA youth to fill the digital jobs talent shortageThe food basket includes items and volumes for a family of seven — an average low-income household size — and is a reasonable proxy for the most important typical foods most of these families try to buy each month, given affordability constraints. In August, the prices of food baskets increased in Durban (R51.36), Cape Town (R26.99) and Pietermaritzburg (R87.47) but eased in Joburg by R108.67, Springbok (R174.79), Mtubatuba (R340.05) and Mthatha (R192.00). Using South Africa’s national minimum wage of R30.23 per hour or R5,078.64 for an average 21-day working month, the PMBEJD estimates how much low-income households have left to spend on food after paying for transport, electricity and, in some cases, debt.In August, with 20 working days, the maximum national minimum wage for a general worker would be about R4,836.80.“On our calculations, electricity and transport will take up R3,183.45 (65.8%) of a worker’s wage in August. After paying for transport and electricity, workers are left with R1,653.35,” the PMBEJD said.“If all the remaining money … went to buy food, for a family of four, it would provide R413.34 per person per month. This is 48% below the national food poverty line of R855 per person per month.“The group is backing the Institute for Economic Justice’s legal challenge to the government’s intention to discontinue the social relief of distress grant (SRD) introduced in 2020 to mitigate the impact of job losses due to the lockdowns that were enforced to try containing the Covid-19 pandemic.On Tuesday the Supreme Court of Appeal heard a government application against a Pretoria high court ruling declaring unconstitutional the income threshold for people eligible for the grant of R624 per person per month, which is below the poverty line.“We had hoped that the introduction of the social relief of distress grant in 2020 laid the foundation of what would become a bolder intervention in the form of a basic income grant and, with this, a strong government intervention to bolster economic activity much more broadly in society while also easing poverty,” the PMBEJD said on Tuesday.“The SRD grant has shown, in times of immediate crisis (during Covid-19 and its aftermath) as well as in the continuing affordability and economic crisis households still find themselves in, that a more universalised grant which addresses a major welfare and economic gap does make a critical intervention for men and women who require support. We urge other progressive civic organisations to do likewise.”Business Day