Prices of local staples drop as harvest begins

Prices of tomatoes, pepper, potato, yam and garri – key staples in the Nigerian diets – are declining across markets in the country as farmers commence harvest, bringing relief to households and reducing pressure on them.

This comes when the country is facing one of its worst food crises in decades, which has worsened Nigeria’s food insecurity and amplified a cost-of-living crisis.

The World Food Programme of the United Nations reported that 4.4 million people in the northeast are malnourished because of their inability to afford a balanced diet.

BusinessDay served across markets in Lagos, Nigeria’s commercial centre and found that the average price of white garri has declined by 42.5 percent to N2,300 from N 4,000 sold in July. A 50kg bag of white garri is now sold for an average of N65,000 as against N75,000 in July.

Read also: Tomato prices drop 58% in Lagos

Ayobami Olubori, president of the National Cassava Processors and Markets attributed the sharp decline to the commencement of harvesting of the tuber during the rainy season.

According to him, it costs less to hire labourers for harvest during the rainy season and this reduces the cost of production.

“There is a high yield of cassava tubers now because the rains made the ground soft for easy harvest. The rate of quality cassava harvested has increased compared to before,” Olubori noted.

He also revealed that cassava farmers recorded losses during the peak of the dry season from January to April which led to a surge in garri prices, noting that harvest was difficult and expensive during the period.

Prices of potatoes, another tuber crop mainly consumed by households, dropped by over 50 percent as farmers commenced harvest of the tubers in key producing states.

A painter of Irish potatoes currently sells for N4,000 from an average of N12,000 some months ago, declining by 66 percent in the period.

Daniel Obi, president of the Potato Farmers Association of Nigeria said, “Prices of potatoes are declining because of a new harvest season, which according to him, will continue until December.

“There is a new harvest season for potatoes across the country. It’s the season, so this price drop will continue until December,” Obi, who is also the vice president of the All Farmers Association of Nigeria, added.

Obi pointed out that many crops are in their harvest season, hence the rapid decline in prices of staple crops across the country.

Similarly, prices of tomatoes have declined across the country. Explaining the reason behind the tomato price drop, Sani Danladi, national chairman of the Association of Tomato Growers, Processors and Marketers Association of Nigeria, said it is owing to the harvest season which began over a month ago.

“Farmers who planted in the past months are currently harvesting, which explains why the prices of tomatoes are decreasing. The rain break too is another reason,” Danladi added.

Tomato prices have dropped 58 percent in Lagos from an average of N120,000 to N50,000 for a big basket in the Mile 12 market. In Onitsha, the basket costs between N60,000 and N75,000 at major markets such as Ochanja, and Ose. In Wuse and Dei Dei markets in Abuja, prices hover between N45,000 and N60,000.

Read also: Tomato prices drop to seven-month low on harvest, rainfall

For pepper, a small basket of Habanero pepper currently sells for an average of N13,000 against N35,000 at the peak of the price surge in May-June, indicating a 63 percent decline.

The decline in locally grown staples has generated different reactions from Nigerians who see it as a window of hope from soaring food inflation, which is taking a huge chunk of minimum wage.

It has also been reflected in the recently released Consumer Price Index report by the NBS.

Food inflation dropped by 3.27 percent to 39.53 percent in July from 40.87 percent in June, its lowest since February 2024.

Analysts, however, had projected that Nigeria’s headline inflation rate will moderate in July as a result of a decline in prices of food and the federal government’s 150-day-free import duty effect on food inflation, and naira stability.