Food prices in Nigeria have been falling for the past months, especially on some staple foods like yams, pepper, potatoes, and tomatoes. This was largely due to the current harvest period, which has led to increased supplies of such foodstuffs onto the markets. The harvest this year has been good because of the right weather conditions, resulting from adequate rainfall that really helped to ensure a bumper crop output. Many farmers and traders within the FCT and environs have realized the influence of harvest on food prices.
Mrs. Lizzy Igbine, the National President of the Nigerian Women Agro-Allied Farmers Association, said it was expected that with the period of harvest still on, there would be a drop in the prices of crops such as new potatoes, onions, yams, and so on. The reduction of price still has low consumers’ purchasing power. Many of the traders, including a yam seller in Nyanya market, Mr. Babangida Yakubu, say the level of patronage remains low. The reason is partly because, among other economic reasons, there has been a freeze in wages received by many Nigerians. This has moved Yakubu and others to urge the government to fast-track the implementation of new Minimum Wage for civil servants, all in an effort to increase consumer spending.
NBS says inflation in the country has slowed.
Other forces that have an impact on Food Prices are of a broader economic factor, say economic analysts. For the first time in almost two years, the nation’s Inflation rate has slowed, according to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS). The agency revealed that food inflation had gone down from 40.87% in June 2024 to 39.53% in July 2024. The easing off of this inflation may be attributed partly to the harvest season and partly to some government policies, including the temporal removal of import duties on some food items. These reductions have yet to positively affect all Nigerians because their prices are still very high, compared with last year’s.
Though the general trend for food items is a drop in price, some items like onions and garri have recorded smaller reductions than others, an indication that there could be lingering pressures to the supply chain and market. Furthermore, the Sustainability of these reductions is also questioned in view of expected future Inflationary Pressures that would emanate from impending wage adjustments and other economic factors. For a consumer, Mrs. Nkechi Aboh, tomato prices had reduced from the initial ₦15,000-₦18,000 per small basket to ₦2,500-₦3,500, thus offering her a sigh of relief.
Government should invest in infrastructure and agric resources.
But Aboh holds the opinion that more preservation techniques for such perishable items as tomatoes should be available. According to her, with dehydration and other preservation means, the prices can remain stable, even when such produce is out of season. This is to say that, against the backdrop of the current harvest season, which has returned short-lived salvation in food prices, the general economic situation suggests that these gains are so fragile and would indeed call for continuous effort to sustain and improve food affordability in Nigeria.
Meanwhile, the government can reduce food prices by improving agricultural Infrastructure and access of farmers to resources. Investments in Irrigation systems, storage facilities, and transportation networks can go a long way in reducing the losses of agricultural products after harvesting, thereby smoothing the path of food items to markets. Some other ways are Productivity can be increased by timely access to farm inputs such as seeds, fertilizers, and farm machinery at affordable rates. Increased productivity will result in an increased supply of food items in the market, thus lowering their prices.
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Furthermore, some other equally important efforts in bringing down the cost of food must, therefore, be supported by policies such as Subsidies to smallholder farmers and reduction of import duties on basic food items. Promoting local produce through incentives for farmers and agribusinesses can help the country reduce its reliance on imported food and decrease price volatility. This can keep food prices low by averting man-made price increases by middlemen through tightening control over the price change mechanisms and ensuring transparency in the supply chain.