Prices of 5 food items that surged the most in 2024

Nigerians battled severe food crisis in 2024 with prices of rice, beans, garri, yam, and tomatoes surging to record highs in the year.

The situation forced millions of households to cut down on purchases while seeking alternatives.

The World Food Programme, Food and Agriculture Organisation, and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) projected that 33 million people would be food insecure in 2025, a stark difference from the 24 million in 2024.

The rising cost of food items pushed Nigerians into the worst kind of food crisis in decades and left many dead during the festive season during the bid to scamper for food palliatives by charity bodies.

Food inflation hit 39.9 percent in November – depicting Nigeria’s alarming cost of living crisis.

In no particular order, BusinessDay looks at five food commodities that saw the most increase in 2024.

Rice

Prices of a 50kg bag of local rice rose sharply by an average of 77 percent from N60,000 in 2023 to above N106,000 in December 2024. The same quantity of foreign rice rose 85 percent from N65,000 in 2023 to N120,000 in December 2024.

After the removal of petrol subsidy and devaluation of the naira, the price of local parboiled rice which is a key staple in the Nigerian diet, surged beyond the capacity of embattled Nigerians struggling with a minimum wage below N100,000.

The surge in the price of local parboiled rice in 2024 is an indication that smallholder farmers currently cannot meet local demand for the grain due to insecurity, high cost of inputs and logistics issues.

Beans

The prices of beans surged by 115 percent from an average of N6,500 in 2023 to N14,000 in 2024, rising fast above the reach of the average Nigerian.

Beans, considered one of the cheapest forms of protein, became difficult to purchase in 2024.

According to farmers, the price rally was a result of poor yields attributed to climate change and insecurity issues in producing states.

Read also: Top 10 most expensive food in Nigeria ahead of Christmas

Yam

Yam prices jumped 186 percent from an average of N3,500 in 2023 to about N10,000 in 2024. Prices varied depending on sizes.

The situation got dire and retailers began selling the tuber in small pieces to make it easy for consumers to purchase.

Farmers pin the price surge to low rainfall which made the soil hard during harvest. This led to low production.

Nigeria produces about 61.9 million metric tons of yam as of 2023, according to data from the Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO).

Garri

Garri turned to gold in 2024 when a 4-litre paint container peaked 167 percent from an average of N1,500 in 2023 to N4,000 in 2024.

Farmers blame the price rise on lack of adequate rainfall during the peak of the dry season planting of cassava in January – April. They revealed that the grounds were hard during harvest which resulted in a loss of tons of cassava.

Nigeria is the largest producer and consumer of cassava in the world and churned out 62.7 million metric tons of cassava in 2023, according to data from FAO.

Tomatoes

The prices of tomatoes were so high that Nigerians opted for strange alternatives like cucumber, beetroot, and pawpaw, among a long list of others.

A big basket of tomatoes rose from an average of N50,000 in 2023, depending on negotiation, to about N120,000 in 2024, a 140 percent rise in the period.

Retailers sold five pieces of small tomatoes for N500, pushing Nigerians to abandon the vegetable.

According to farmers, the price rally was caused by the persistent Tuta Absoluta outbreak that ravages tomato farms annually.

Also, seasonality and high cost of transportation from farms to markets were major issues driving the price surge in 2024.