Abuja sees 33% surge in rice price in 14 months

The price of a 50kg bag of foreign rice in Abuja, Nigeria’s capital city has risen by 33.3 percent to N40, 000 in September 2022 from N30, 000 in July 2021, according to a recent Jollof Index report.

The report by SBM Intelligence, an Africa focused geopolitical research and strategic communications consulting firm used Wuse market, a popular market in Abuja for its findings.

“The cost of rice has increased for several reasons. First, the naira keeps losing value against the dollar, thus increasing the cost of purchasing foreign rice, which most Nigerians consume,” the report stated.

It further stated that the scarcity of forex for food purchases through official sources also adds to this increased cost. “More concerning information is that these prices will further increase as floods destroy large rice farmlands, which supplement the imported quantities.”

Across the 13 markets in the country, Abuja is the most expensive place to make Jollof rice at N13, 150. According to the National Bureau of Statistics, the food inflation rate in the state increased by 1.10 percent to 22.68 percent in September.

Read also: Global food prices hits nine-month low

Flood incidents in the country, the worst in a decade, have destroyed 70,566 hectares of farmland, damaged 45,249 houses and displaced over 1.4 million Nigerians, with about 600 persons reported dead.

Rice, a key staple mostly consumed by households, has been affected the most by the impact of the flood.

The country’s largest farmland of 10,000 hectares in Nasarawa owned by Olam and worth about $140 million investment has been submerged by floods, according to Ade Adefeko, vice president of external relations and stakeholder management at Olam Agri.

“The rice harvest, which is expected for November-December 2022, has been cut off, and Nigerians have to wait till the next rice harvest season, which is August-September 2023 for the South and November-December for the North.

“This means that in about one year, domestic production of rice will reduce considerably,” the SBM report stated.

Traders and distributors of the commodity have said that the price could go as high as N50, 000 before December.

Adewale Adegbenro, a Lagos-based rice distributor who buys from millers in the North, said the price of rice would exceed N50, 000 by December owing to supply shortages caused by the floods.

“As of today, the rice we supplied was sold at N43, 000 in Lagos, so it is definitely going to exceed N50, 000 by December,” he said.