The All Farmers Association of Nigeria (AFAN) says persistent insecurity, flooding and poor rural road infrastructure were responsible for the increase in food inflation recorded in June.

The National Secretary-General of AFAN, Femi Oke, said this during an interview on Thursday in Lagos while reacting to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) June Consumer Price Index and Inflation Report.

The NBS report showed that headline inflation eased marginally to 15.91 per cent in June from 15.93 per cent recorded in May.

However, food inflation rose to 17.52 per cent in June from 16.96 per cent in May, representing an increase of 0.56 percentage points.

Mr Oke commended the federal government’s efforts to improve food security and moderate inflation, saying the gains were being constrained by insecurity and flooding.

“With regard to food inflation, we believe insecurity continues to play a major role in rising food prices in spite of the federal government’s efforts to support agriculture.

“The federal government is trying its best to address these issues and create an enabling environment for farmers across the country.

“In some areas where major food staples are cultivated, farmers are still afraid to go to their farms because of the activities of bandits. We can also blame the current rains and flooding for the increase in food inflation,” he said.

Mr Oke also blamed poor rural road infrastructure and the slow implementation of the World Bank/Federal Government Rural Access and Agricultural Marketing Project (RAAMP) in some states for the high cost of transporting food.

“Many states are yet to implement the project, resulting in high transportation costs for moving food from rural communities to urban centres.

“If roads are not opened up, food inflation will continue to rise because transporters pass the high cost of logistics to consumers, coupled with unstable fuel prices,” he said.

He called for stronger public-private partnerships to improve food transportation across the country.

According to him, providing utility vehicles to AFAN in each state will ease the movement of agricultural produce and help reduce logistics costs.

“If every state can have at least two utility vehicles dedicated to transporting farm produce, it will help reduce food inflation. However, the government is trying its best to improve agricultural operations.

“We have just received free fertilisers distributed across 26 states and the Federal Capital Territory, with more than 12,000 farmers benefiting from the intervention, and we appreciate the Federal Government for the support,” he said.

The NBS attributed the moderation in headline inflation largely to a decline in core inflation, which dropped to 15.92 per cent in June from 16.82 per cent in May.

The bureau also reported that food inflation stood at 17.52 per cent year-on-year in June, compared with 25.41 per cent recorded in the corresponding period of 2025.

On a month-on-month basis, food inflation rose to 3.75 per cent in June from 2.98 per cent in May.

According to the NBS, the increase was driven by higher prices of fresh pepper, tomatoes, crayfish, beef, garri, yam tubers, yam flour, cassava flour, cowpea, bananas and Irish potatoes.

The bureau added that food and non-alcoholic beverages remained the largest contributor to headline inflation, accounting for 6.37 percentage points.

 (NAN)