The recent drop in food prices in Nigeria amid bumper harvests has left farmers complaining about low returns on their investments.
According to reports, prices of staple foods like rice, beans, tomatoes, and maize have decreased significantly due to increased supply from local farmers who have commenced harvesting. For instance, a 50kg bag of rice now costs between ₦50,000 and ₦63,000, down from ₦100,000, and tomatoes have fallen from ₦120,000 to ₦35,000 per basket.
However, farmers are struggling to recover their costs due to a lack of proper storage facilities, insecurity, and poor market access, which forces them to sell at giveaway prices.
Many farmers have expressed frustration, saying they are barely breaking even despite the bumper harvest. The situation highlights the need for improved infrastructure, storage facilities, and market support to ensure farmers can benefit from their produce.
Without these, the gains of bumper harvests may not translate to better incomes for farmers, potentially discouraging future production.
In Kaduna, farmers have expressed concern over the falling prices of agricultural produce despite bumper harvests during the current farming season.
Ibrahim Musa, a maize and soybean farmer in Giwa LGA, said that although rainfall and yields were favourable, insecurity and the lack of storage facilities had forced farmers to sell their produce at low prices. He said many farmers could not access distant farmlands due to banditry, while the glut in the market pushed prices down.
Another farmer, Grace Zakari from Soba LGA, said the high cost of labour and fertiliser, coupled with low market prices, had eroded farmers’ profits. She stated that traditional storage methods were inadequate, resulting in substantial post-harvest losses.
The farmers linked the drop in commodity prices to the ongoing harvest glut and government policies on fuel and fertiliser subsidy removal, which they said had increased production costs. They appealed to the government to provide storage facilities, affordable farm inputs, and improved security to help the farmers benefit from their labour during the harvesting season.
In Kano, farmers have recorded a successful harvest season this year, attributing their improved yields to favourable weather conditions and timely rainfall. A cross-section of farmers and stakeholders, however, expressed mixed feelings about the season, citing both gains and challenges.
Audu Muzammil, a groundnut and soyabean farmer in Bebeji LGA, said the harvest had been encouraging compared to last year’s.
“The rain started on time, and we had fewer pest attacks. My farm did very well this year. The only challenge now is how to store our produce safely because of poor storage facilities and the fear of post-harvest losses,” he said.
Another farmer, Umaru Garba, expressed satisfaction with the support received under the SAPZ programme, describing it as “transformative” and a “turning point” for groundnut cultivation in the area. Mr Garba said he harvested twice as many groundnuts as in the previous farming season.
“Before SAPZ came, I used to get only about 10 bags from my one-hectare farm. This year, I got 20 bags. The improved seeds and training on modern planting methods made a big difference,” Mr Garba said.
A millet, tomato, and pepper farmer in Kura LGA, Ibrahim Baba, said the season brought relief after months of uncertainty.
However, not all the farmers had a smooth experience. Salisu Mudi, who cultivates maize, millet, and sorghum in Gezawa, raised concerns about transportation costs.
Regarding commodity prices, Mudi Abubakar Musa observed that the current decline was due to increased supply from harvests.
A market leader at the Dawanau International Grain Market, Bala Ali, said the bumper harvests had significantly boosted food supply across the North-West, despite the insecurity bedeviling some states in the region.
In Katsina, farmers have also expressed concern about the crash in crop prices and the high cost of fertiliser. The farmers stated this in an interview on Monday. They said that many farmers recorded losses this year despite bumper harvests in some parts of the state.
According to the farmers, they bought a bag of fertiliser at N50,000 and above, but a bag of maize costs about N30,000, and below in some places, especially in the southern parts of the state. A bag of millet now costs about N30,000, while a bag of beans costs N68,000.
Abubakar Aliyu, a farmer in Katsina, said that the prices of almost all farm produce had crashed in the market, drastically lower than last year. He said that many of them planted crops to make a profit this year, yet the prices of the crops dropped significantly.
On the other hand, he revealed that people were happy with the bumper harvests and the reduction in grain prices. He therefore urged the government to provide a subsidy on fertiliser to encourage farmers to continue planting crops next year and beyond.
Kabir Sabiu said that the crash in crop prices this year was from God.
“We thank Allah for that, as you know, anything which has advantages must also have its disadvantages. The advantage of this is that a lot of people who hitherto could not afford food are now able to do so. Only that to get the money is also a difficult thing in view of the current economic situation in the country,” he said.
(NAN)