Prices of major food products drop 30% as Christmas nears

The increase in the production of major agricultural commodities have made positive appreciable impact on the prices of food products in the market, as prices of rice, tomatoes, chicken are down an average of 30 percent year on year despite Christmas approaching.
Level of investment in many sub-sectors in agriculture—rice, tomatoes, poultry, aquaculture among others have increased considerably, driven by government’s heightened campaign on agriculture, as well as the economic downturn which is causing many Nigerians to turn to the enterprise.
BusinessDay survey at Mile 12 market shows that a big basket of fresh tomatoes sells for N 10,000 as against N15,000 sold last year December, while the medium size basket sells for N8,000 as against N11,500. This shows a 33.3 percent year-on-year decline.
Also, a 50kg bag of imported rice now sells for N13, 000 as against N18, 500 sold last year, indicating a 30 percent year-on-year decline. Similarly, a bag of local brands such as Labana and Mama’s Pride cost N16,000 per 50 kg bag as against N19,000 and N18,500 sold respectively last year.
This shows a 16 percent decrease in the Labana brand and a 14 percent decrease in the Mama’s Pride brand.
Similarly, a kilogram of imported frozen chicken sells for N1,000 as against N1,200 sold in 2016 December. A local frozen chicken also sells for N1,000 per KG as against N1,300 sold last year.
Key stakeholders who spoke to BusinessDay attributed the decline in prices which began some three weeks ago to increase in production in the country’s main staple crops.
“There has been increase in production of staple crops like rice and maize. That is why the prices are low and it will remain low till the end of the year but may not be the case in January,” said Sanni Dangote, president, Nigeria Agribusiness Group (NABG) and vice president, Dangote Industries.
“The government needs to address the fundamental issues in the country to sustain the current low food prices,” Dangote said.
Findings also show that prices of other staple foods have equally declined.
A 60kg of garri now goes for N13,000 as against N14,000 sold last year December. For pepper, a basket of Rodo costs N6,000 while that of Tatashe costs N8,000.
Biliya Lawan, secretary- perishable section, Mile 12 Market told BusinessDay that there is increase in the supply of tomatoes and rice to the markets in recent months which has pushed down the price of the commodities.
“A lot of traders are bringing in tomatoes to the market now. The price may rise during the Christmas period but it would not be more than 5 percent,” Lawan said.
According to the UK Department for International Development (DFID) sponsored report, Nigeria has doubled its rice production to 5.7 million metric tons in 2016, thus bringing the country’s production closer to the estimated demand of 7 million tons by the agricultural road map.
This has seen the prices of rice declined in recent months.
Despite the country suffering from a Tuta Aboluta recurrence in early part of the year, Nigeria has increased its tomatoes production.
“Most farmers are now using green houses to farm tomatoes now. This has increased the production of the crop,” said AfricanFarmer Mogaji, chief executive officer, X-Ray Farms Limited.
“Next year prices are going to rise owing to climate change,” said Mogaji.

Josephine Okojie