Food Prices Soar As Marketers Lament Production Shortage

Abuja residents are currently battling with high food prices as a result of production shortages by farmers caused by the negative impact of Covid-19 pandemic and insecurity.

The average Nigerian may have to rethink his meal plan as THE WHISTLER market survey shows a sharp rise in price of commodities in the Nigerian market.

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For example, a bunch of yam, made up of 3 tubers, which was sold for N1,500 in May, now sells for N4,000.

Similarly, a 50kg of local rice that sold at N23,000 in May now sells for N25,000, while foreign rice now sells for N30,000 from N28,000 last month.

Also, a basket of tomato has increased from N16,000 to N20,000, while a basket of pepper now sells at N20,000.

While, the National Bureau of statistics data had shown a 22.28 percent increase in food inflation, experts have argued that the figure does not reflect the current reality on ground.

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According to the report, the composite food index rose by 22.28 per cent in May 2021 compared to 22.72 per cent in April 2021.

“On a month-on-month basis, the report showed that the food sub-index increased by 1.05 percent in May 2021, up by 0.06 percent points from 0.99 per cent recorded in April 2021.

A Wholesale rice trader at the Dutse Market in Abuja, Madam Ada, confirmed to THE WHISTLER that prices of food items had risen within a short time.

Sellers At Dutse Market, Abuja

She explained that the price may get even higher as the items are getting scarce to get.

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“It is really unfortunate, I do not know how the average man will cope with this rise in price.

“While some traders are over pricing these food items, some are really trying to cope with the cost of trade, getting these products is really not easy as before.

“Everything is a problem now; the fear of insecurity is threatening the transportation of food items, ” she said.

She stressed on the need for the government to ease the issues around production and transportation of food produce.

Ali, a Tomato seller, said a basket of tomatoes now sells for N20,000.

He explained that the crops are scarce and expensive to get from the market.

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“This small basket that we used to sell for N1,500 is now N4,500, a bag of pepper is now N20,000.

“Even the price of rice is not the same as it was last month, everything is just getting more expensive by the day,” he added.

Adamu Abdul, a Kaduna based rice farmer told THE WHISTLER that more problems are expected to rise from food shortage, as farmers are faced with several challenges.

According to him, the farmer/herder clash which resulted in huge loss among farmers would pose a major challenge at this time.

“We knew that it will get to this, many farmers have not entered their farms for a long time now because they do not want to be killed by herdsmen, so this is what we are seeing today.

“As we speak the crisis has started and the government is not prepared for it, we will soon begin to see people die of hunger than the covid-19 pandemic.”

According to him, the government has focused on distributing food items, instead of strengthening the hands of farmers to increase production.

He stressed on the need for the government as well as other stakeholders to strategi on ways to deepen efforts in assisting farmers and boost production of food items across the country.

“Farmers have been out of farms for some weeks now, and it might even be more shocking to note that most farmers have not returned to farms since the beginning of this year, which means we may not have the amount of food in circulation like we have had in past years”.

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