Nigerians lament as food prices rise further

Nigerians have continued to decried the continuous rise in the prices of food items across the country. Prices of basic food items such as rice, beans, yams, vegetables, and poultry products, among others, have steadily increased since July 2020, with millions of Nigerians struggling to adjust.

Various reports and data have revealed steady increase in the price of foodstuffs in the past one year.

For instance, a bag of local rice currently goes for N45, 000 and N46,000, while foreign rice goes for N55,000 as against N35,000 and N44,000 respectively last year. In January this year, the average price of rice (50kg bag) in Abuja is between N35,000 while that of 50kg bag in Lagos is between N33,000.

In most places ,a 50 kg of garri cost N28,549.00. It was sold for N24, 000 and N25, 000.

Similarly, a mudu of local rice for N1,350 and N1,400 while the foreign rice is sold for N1,700 and N1,800. This is against N900 and N1,500 in July last year.

A 40 kilogramme basket of tomato, which was sold at N13,000 last year is selling for N26,000.

In September this year, Oloyin Beans (50kg) has been selling for between N30,000 to N39,000, depending on location and market.

Families are battling to meet their children breakfast needs as Indomie Chicken (70g x 40ps)- now sell for N1,900 to N2,100. A pack of Indomie Onion (70g x 40ps) sells for N2,100 – N2,200.

Superpack (120g x 40ps) usually patronized by labourers and drivers had gone up to N3,300- N3,400.

Hungry Man (200g x 24ps) is sold for N4,300- N4,500.

A 40kg tomato at Mile 12 market is sold between ¦ 50,000 and ¦ 55,000.

In May last year, a mudu of beans sold for N800. Before then in March last year, the same mum of beans sold for N750.

Food stuff sellers such as Onyeka Abia attributed this to factors such as transportation costs, supply chain disruptions.

His prayers was that the government introduced policies that will curb food inflation.

A Senior Lecturer in the Department of Agricultural Economics, University of Ibadan,

Dr. Olubunmi Alawode lamented the detrimental impact of food inflation on homes making it difficult for people access adequate and nutritious meals.

According to her, the past few months have seen cost of living hit through the ceiling pushing many families struggling to stay afloat below the breadline into the deep of poverty.

“A very critical reason, especially now, that we have less harvest and more demand for food from households. So, demand is greater than supply, causing upward movement of food prices,” Alawode said.

She noted that food prices have been skyrocketing every single day, making life tough, for households to survive .

She indicated that the entire country was feeling the heat of the rising cost of living, as a large portion of income goes into purchasing food.

She counselled that the strategy for survival was for farmers to readjust their budget and reduce consumption of non-essentials and even look at the amount spent on necessities such as rent to see if they can get better bargains.

Last year, the Director General, World Trade Organisation (WTO), Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, warned in April, that Nigeria and other African countries may face food crises due to the war in Ukraine.

According to her, in many African countries (including Nigeria), food prices have risen by 20 percent.

In December last year also, World Health Organisation (WHO) sounded a warning early this year that rising food prices heightened food insecurity in emerging markets and developing economies, including Nigeria.

The global body attributed the worrisome development to food import dependence on Ukraine and Russia, which had triggered food insecurity across the world.

Nigeria’s imports from Ukraine such as milk, wheat, and maize have declined, with wheat, mackerel, herrings, blue whitings, other fish products and vaccines imported from Russian suffering the same fate.