Respite for households as beans prices drop 37%

Prices of beans- Nigeria’s cheapest protein source has declined by 37 percent as farmers of the legume recorded bumper harvest.

The average price of 100kg bag of beans sells for N190,000 as against N300,000 sold last year, according to BusinessDay’s market survey.

Similarly, a painter of beans now sells for an average of N8,000 as against N14,500 last year, indicating a 45 percent drop in price.

Kabir Shuaibu, a beans farmer in Kaduna, told BusinessDay that farmers’ yield tripled during the last harvest and this has led to high beans supply in the markets, hence the price fall.

“The yield farmers had this year is triple of what we had last year. A piece of farmland that yielded about 10 bags of beans now does 30 bags. This is because of the bumper harvest,” he said.

Shuaibu explained that this surplus in beans production is driving the decline across the country and will continue until mid-year.

“Although harvest season has now passed, farmers have beans in surplus and will continue to sell at a cheaper rate until the end of June,” he added.

Nura Isa, a trader in Lagos, said between December and January, beans prices usually decline because of the season but will pick up again when the rainy season kicks in.

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“Beans price is down because this is the season. When the rain starts, it’ll start going up again,” Isa said.

Beans, which is botanically called vigna unguiculata and locally called beans, is an economically important legume and most versatile crop in Nigeria which serves as food to humans and livestock.

Beans contains 25 percent protein, several vitamins and minerals and serves as the cheapest means of protein for most Nigerian households, is now fast eluding their reach as prices of the pulses continue to rise.

Nigeria is the largest producer and consumer of beans globally, accounting for 61 percent of Africa’s production and 58 percent of global production, according to the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA).

Available data from the Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO) show that Nigeria’s beans (cowpea) production has been on the decline since 2013.

Nigeria produces 4.3 million metric tons of dried cowpea in 2023, latest data available on the FAO website show.

“I can now save more money and eat healthily. It’s a happy time for those of us who had to cut down on how we eat beans,” said Faith Excellence, a content writer in Lagos.

However, aside from beans, prices of other crops are falling across the agricultural value chain on the back of the bumper harvest experienced in the last planting season.