As fuel prices climb, low-income households in Suva are reverting to basic cooking methods to keep food on the table. Sheetal Prasad, 33, and her 65-year-old relative, Usha Kiran, of Wailea Settlement in Vatuwaqa have abandoned gas and kerosene and are now cooking with firewood, a move they say was forced on them by recent increases at the pumps.
Prasad and Kiran live in a five-person household that depends on a single income. “We are not fortunate enough to be able to withstand or endure this increase in fuel price, so we have no option but to use firewood for cooking,” Ms Prasad said, explaining the family’s decision to switch fuels. Ms Kiran added that they have started using an outside firewood stove and are cutting back on non-essential expenses to make ends meet. “We have to struggle and make ends meet, by using outside firewood stove and cut back on our wants,” she said.
The pair’s account highlights the practical and comfort costs of the shift: the firewood they source is often wet, making cooking slower and more uncomfortable. That reality underscores the trade-offs poorer households face when conventional household fuels become unaffordable, forcing families to accept less efficient and more labour-intensive alternatives.
Their situation comes as Fiji braces for what officials have warned could be weeks before fuel supply and prices stabilise amid an uncertain global fuel crisis. Ordinary citizens, especially those on fixed or single incomes, say they are ill-equipped to absorb further increases. Ms Kiran urged the government to consider the plight of low-income earners explicitly when assessing responses to the fuel squeeze. “We urge the government to think of us low income earners, those of us that cannot handle the increase in price,” she said.
Community leaders and welfare groups have previously warned that prolonged high fuel prices can drive households to such coping strategies, which may have wider consequences for household budgets, time use and comfort. For now, families in settlements like Wailea are making immediate adjustments — cutting back on wants, relying on one income stretched further, and reverting to time-tested but less convenient fuel sources.
As global pressures continue to influence local pump prices, Prasad and Kiran’s experience may be an early indicator of the kinds of sacrifices that could become more common among Fiji’s lower-income communities in the near term. Their appeal to government highlights a growing call for support measures that recognise the limited capacity of vulnerable households to absorb sudden rises in living costs.
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