Prices of food items are gradually dropping in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) markets and environs, a News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) survey reveals.

Correspondents who visited various markets in FCT and its environs reported that the prices vary depending on the market and its location.

Food prices tend to be higher in markets in the city centres than those in the satellite towns.

At the Kado market, a 50kg bag of rice, which sold between N97,000 and N100,000 in January, is now being sold for N87,000, while a 25kg bag formally sold between N45,000 and N50,000 was now being sold for N43,500 depending on the brand.

In Garki market located at the city centre, a bag of 50 kg rice was now being sold between N81,000 to N83,000 as against N92,000 in January, while a 25kg bag now sells for between N42,000 and N43,000 as against N45,000 sold in January.

In Nyanya market, located in the satellite town, a 50 kg bag of rice was formally sold between N90,000 and N93,000 in January, and it was now being sold between N70,000 and N83,000, depending on the brand.

A 50 kg bag of rice sold for N105,000 at Apo fish market had crashed to N93,000.

At the popular Orange market on the Abuja-Keffi expressway, a bag of onions sold between N90,000 and N100,000 as of January was now being sold between N50,000 and N55,000.

In Garki market, a bag of onions sold between N180,000 and N200,000 as of January now goes for between N55,000 and N60,000.

In Karu market, located in FCT satellite town, a bag of Bendel (yellow) garri was sold at N55,000 against N57,000 to N60,000 in January.

For red oil, a 25-litre keg sold between N75,000 and N83,000 in January was sold between N55,000 and N50,000 in the Nyanya market.

In Apo fish market, a 25-litre Terra groundnut oil formerly sold for N88,000 now goes for N84,000.

A four-litre keg of groundnut oil was now being sold for N15,500, which was against its former price of between N17,500 and N20,000, depending on the brand.

Also, a big bag of white beans initially sold between N200,000 and N150,000 now sells between N115,000 and N120,000 at Kado market.

A module of white beans formally sold between N2,100 and N2,300 in January was sold between N1,700 and N1,800, respectively.

At Orozo market, a module of brown beans formally sold between N2,200 and N2,800 was now sold for between N1,800 and N2,000.

However, food items like yams, pepper, combo and plantain had increased compared to their prices in January.

At the Wuse market, five pieces of medium-sized yams sold between N8,000 and N10,000 were now being sold for N15,000.

At Lugbe and Orozo markets, the same size of yams formally sold for between N6,000 and N7,000 were now sold for N10,000.

Also, a bunch of plantain sold for N6,000 was now being sold for between N8,000 and N9,000.

A big bag of pepper was now being sold for N73,000 as against N31,000 in January.

A big basket of shombo was sold at N36,000 against N30,000 in January.

Amina Suleiman, a mother of four, said that although prices of some food items in the market were dropping, the decrease was insignificant.

“The government needs to do more in the area of security to enable farmers to farm more, improve infrastructure and ensure incentives to farmers.

“All these will reduce the cost of production and, in turn, further reduce the cost of food prices for the good of all Nigerians,” Ms Suleiman said.

Albert Okoro, a rice wholesaler in the Garki market, attributed the price drop to the slight reduction in fuel prices.

(NAN)