The best of times for 44-year-old Roger Zahié was when he had a secondhand Honda and an 90 euro a month apartment. It was over there, he said pointing to a quickly deteriorating block of flats on the outskirts of Abidjan, the largest city in Ivory Coast.

These days Zahié lives in a shack together with his wife and eight children. Sometimes, when he can't sleep, he still thinks of that Honda. Ever since he lost his job two years ago, and had to sell his car, he hasn't gone anywhere. "Public transportation is unaffordable expensive," he said. But the worst part is not being able to eat more than one meal a day. "Sometimes I really crave for a piece of meat."

Food riots

A year and a half ago people in Abidjan took to the streets to protest the rising cost of living. Ivory Coast's president responded by lowering the VAT on necessities like rice and cooking oil. The protests weren't limited to Ivory Coast. The unions in Burkina Faso organised a general strike. Riots in Cameroon and Mauritania briefly made the world news.

But the food crisis disappeared from the global agenda just as quickly. Had it been only a temporary incident, as some experts said? No, said the UN's Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO) before the start of this week's food summit in Rome. Grain, wheat and corn prices in countries importing more food than they export have stayed at the same high levels. In Niger Millet is now 21 percent more expensive than in 2007, up 35 percent in Mali and 42 percent in Burkina Faso. The high food prices hurt even more because in many African countries salaries have remained at the same level for the past 20 years.

In Le Patriote, a neighbourhood restaurant in Abidjan, owner Mathilde (45) was cutting a dried palm rat into narrow strips. She confirmed that the purchasing power of the lower middle class has decreased steadily. Ten years ago she charged 25 euro-cents for her cheapest meal and 75 cents for the most expensive. The last time she changed her price menu was in 1999: the cheap meal went up to 40 cents, the expensive one to 1 euro. Since then food prices have continued to go up. "But if I raise my prices any further I will lose all my customers for sure," said Mathilde.

Food aid needed

Roger Zahié worked as a civil servant for 16 years, making 200 euros a month, which he occasionally upped by taking bribes. While his salary never changed, the mini-vans used for public transport doubled their prices in the same period, rice went up 50 percent and you can no longer find a decent studio for 15 euros a month, unless you move to a shantytown.

Ivory Coast is listed as one of 31 poor countries in urgent need of external food aid, according to the FAO. The food crisis here is as much to blame on an impassive government and a failing agricultural policy as it is on the 7-year-old military conflict that has split the country in two.

Technically there is no reason why Ivory Coast should be poor. It is one of the most fertile countries in West Africa and the world's biggest cocoa producer. Its interior is a succession of soggy rice paddies, coffee trees, cotton fields and miles of pineapple plantations.

The cocoa farmers barely have cash, but they have just enough to eat. They grow their own tomatoes, manioc and bananas. The city population has access to electricity, schools and drinking water, but more than half of its income goes to food. If the price of rice goes up, it can mean the difference between one or two meals a day.

Almost half of all Ivorians now live in cities. They don't always look poor: they wear sunglasses, cheap jeans and sneakers from China. But many of them are reduced to eating the poor man's food called garba: a sticky puree of manioc with pieces of fish. It is filling though not necessarily nutritious.

Making ends meet

Roger comforts himself with the thought that he is not the only one with an empty stomach. "Everybody in this neighbourhood is trying to make ends meet," he shrugged.

His biggest expense except food is the rental shack, which looks out onto an unpaved courtyard full of naked children and bored looking women. The rent is 50 euros per month, which leaves 90 euros to feed 10 mouths.

An older brother is helping the family out, but every month presents another challenge. There is no money for unexpected expenses. Still, when a neighbour came to ask money for a sick child Zahié obliged. "It could happen to me tomorrow, and then I would be the one asking for help."