Households seek alternatives as food prices spike

Households in Nigeria are now seeking for cheaper alternatives to various food items owing to their depreciated purchasing power to enable them survive the deep cut environment, BusinessDay investigations have shown.

BusinessDay checks revealed staggering prices of agricultural and other consumer goods indicating that the prices of 95 percent locally produced goods have skyrocketed in the past one month.

A survey at Bwari market in Abuja showed consumers shift from the norm to other low-priced food items.

As at May, the prices of a bag of fresh pepper and 50kg bag of imported rice were N18, 000 and N16, 000 respectively but today, it was N37, 000 and N22, 000 respectively which is over 100 percent increase for fresh pepper and 46.6 percent increase for the imported rice.

The price of 50kg bag of garri rose from N9, 000 to sell for N12, 000 and a 50kg bag of beans increased by 50 percent from N14, 000 to sell for N21, 000.

The price of 25litres groundnut oil rose by 30.7 percent from N9, 100 to N11, 900.

However, the price of a basket of fresh tomatoes declined from N35, 000 to N22, 000.

Alhaji Musa, a trader at the market said finding it quite difficult to sell his wares because buyers are not forthcoming.

“Customers were complaining about the price of fresh tomatoes before but now most of them have stopped buying. They now buy those dried fresh tomatoes that are sold for N500 per plate, soak with hot water and salt before using them. My wares have been wasting away and most times I’m forced to less the price when the goods start going bad,” Musa lamented.

CHINWE AGBEZE