Residents of Imo and Abia have blamed the rising food prices on the prohibitive cost of transporting goods.

Prices of various foodstuffs, especially farm produce, have continued to skyrocket, notwithstanding the season of harvest.

Several Owerri residents said that the high transportation cost directly impacted the removal of the fuel subsidy.

A cassava farmer, Chikaodi Igbokwe, said that although this is the period of harvest, farmers were paying through their noses to move their produce from the farm to the market.

Ms Igbokwe said, “We pay heavily to transport produce from the farm to the market, and this factor explains the hike in the prices of food items.”

An economist, Henry Acho, said that the prices of basic food items were in “constant competition with the increasing prices of basic services.”

Mr Acho said that since farmers and food vendors depend on the gains made from their goods to be able to pay for manufactured goods and social services, “it is unlikely to expect them to sell at giveaway prices.

“The inflation is general and not just about food items. What has not inflated? Education and healthcare services, as well as landed property and social services – all are on the rise,” he said.

A senior staff member of the state Ministry of Agriculture, Ken Chukwuemeka, said that the Imo government was taking steps to cushion the impact of inflation on citizens.

According to Mr Chukwuemeka, farmers have recently received inputs and palliatives from the state government.

Harriet Ijeomah, the executive director of Harsco Media and Communication, a media consultancy firm with strong interests in agriculture, urged the federal government to empower farmers in the southern part of the country.

Ms Ijeomah said empowering farmers would help them produce more and encourage competition between the farmers in the south and their northern counterparts, who produce more.

She also advised the government to release more grants for farmers to enable them to overcome challenges, such as climate change, which is currently impeding food production.

In Abia, some agriculture stakeholders decried the hike in prices of food items and adduced various reasons for the challenge. They cited high inflationary rates crippling productivity, hikes in transport fares, and poor farm yields, among other factors that made the hike in food prices inevitable.

A member of the Governing Council of the Federal University of Technology Owerri, Monica Ironkwe, said that the high cost of production directly affects food prices.

Ms Ironkwe, Abia’s former agriculture commissioner, said that naira devaluation, high cost of transportation and rural-urban migration have contributed to food price hikes.

According to her, the significant drop in the number of people who are into farming made it difficult for the current food production level to meet the food needs of the nation’s increasing population.

She said that the first step to conquering the current situation remained a major shift from subsistence farming to commercialised agriculture.

Ms Ironkwe called on the National Universities Commission to include ‘Practical Agriculture’ in its curriculum, thereby making it a mandatory course for undergraduates in the universities. She described it as an innovative strategy for tackling the problem of food insecurity in Nigeria.

A trader, Bright Agomoh, said that the high cost of transportation caused by fuel price hikes had been a constant causative factor in the increase in prices of food items.

Mr Agomoh, who said he bought his commodities directly from farmers in the north, also blamed insecurity as a serious challenge affecting crop production and prices.

Mr Agomoh further cited greed amongst some farmers and sellers as another factor responsible for the persistent hike in the cost of food items, the harvest season notwithstanding.

According to him, a bag of beans sells at N245,000, a bag of potatoes between N20,000 and N25,000, a small bag of onions at N110,000 and a big bag at N150,000.

Mr Agomoh said the hike put a strain on the traders and buyers. He said that it was unfortunate that some individuals were taking undue advantage of the prevailing economic circumstance to profiteer at the expense of the end users.

He urged the federal government to reduce the fuel price, adding that the cost of transportation and food items would crash when the fuel price is reviewed downwards.

Mr Agomoh also urged the federal government to tackle terrorists and bandits head-on so that farmers would return to their farms without the fear of attack.

Ezinne Okoye, a rice farmer in Uzuakoli, Bende LGA in Abia, said the soaring prices of agricultural produce can easily be attributed to the high cost of production and transportation.

According to Ms Okoye, farmers are currently grappling with the challenges of the high cost of inputs and other factors of production.

Ms Okoye, who decried the country’s high inflation rate, said, “It is hurting local rice farmers and others. Except the government generally supports farmers by reducing the price of petrol or subsidising inputs for farmers, the situation would worsen, especially this Christmas season.”

Chidozie Kanu, a climate change expert for the Livelihood Improvement Family Enterprises-Niger Delta (LIFE-ND), Abia, blamed the increasing prices of foodstuffs majorly on climate change and insecurity.

Mr Kanu said that most farmers had yet to adjust to meeting the modalities of engaging the variations of irregular rainfall patterns.
He said that LIFE-ND, as a project, is taking its beneficiaries through combating or mitigating the climate change challenge.

He said that the project’s core priority is to boost the production of rice, cassava, oil palm and poultry in the state by taking the farmers in the 100 communities of its operations through the best varieties.

Abia’s agric commissioner, Cliff Agbaeze, identified conflict and
insecurity, climate change, and economic shocks are key factors contributing to the nation’s food insecurity.

Princess Daniels, who deals in garri, rice, and beans, stated that food items are costly because of transportation costs.

A yam seller, Hyginus Ekwuluo, said that the price of yam was determined by the cost of delivering it to the market.

“During President Goodluck Jonathan’s administration, we were buying a trailer-load of yam between N60,000 and N80,000 but it is between N1.6 million and N1.8 million now. A tuber of big yam now sells for N5,500 compared to three months ago, when it sold for N5000,” Mr Ekwuluo said.

John Anyahuru attributed the high cost of food prices to inflation, which, he said, is hindering productivity. Mr Anyahuru said that stealing farm produce because of hunger and poverty has reduced the number of people farming, hence the poor supply against high demand.

(NAN)