Between April and July, many housewives adopted various survival strategies to cope with escalating prices of tomatoes and pepper as well as other staple foods—no thanks to naira devaluation and other factors. However, other food items maintained their old prices while few others are experiencing increment, TONIA ‘DIYAN reports.
Since the beginning of this month, the prices of tomato and pepper which used to be extremely expensive have started falling, quantity has also increased. The situation was not like this in the last four months when many households faced hard times as prices of food items increased by over 100 per cent due to factors such as insecurity, flood caused by heavy rainfall which washed away large quantities of ripe crops before they could be harvested and the steep fall in the value of the naira.
While the situation lasted, consumers adopted different methods to cope; many households bought little quantities of fresh ingredients, combined them with dried pepper and packaged tomatoes in cans. Housewives lamented that it wasn’t easy coping that period, especially having to manage the monthly allowance every time. Most of them said they would have to do lots of explanations to convince their husbands to increase food allowance.
From investigations, the situation was worsened by alleged extortion by policemen at the many checkpoints on the way to Lagos when farmers who harvest and distribute these items return from the north. This is in addition to the activities of state and local government officials that charge and collect all manners of spurious charges when they finally get here.
According to the famers, the scarcity and hike in the price of staple foods, was due to high cost of transportation occasioned by the fuel scarcity in the country that virtually killed the economy at the beginning of the year and off season period for perishable food items.
In April, acute nationwide fuel scarcity caused increment in the prices of staple foods. Traders who buy produce in small quantities attributed this to high cost of transporting goods from their places of purchase to the market.
In June when Ramadan fast began, price-sensitive markets across Lagos suffered from higher food costs which affected the demand for food items, particularly those of tomato and pepper. And visits to some major markets in Lagos where these items were sold in large quantities showed then that prices of tomatoes, pepper, chilli pepper and others moved up sharply without any likelihood of coming down any time soon.
Today, the price of the produce have become very affordable, a big basket of tomatoes now sells for N20, 000 or less depending on the size and type of the produce. Medium size is N18, 000. Traders have attributed the price decrease to change in season. According to them, new and fresh tomatoes are out now; there are no pests spoiling tomato like it used to be when the rain was very heavy in the north. Consumers can now get the item for which they previously paid between N300 and N500 for between N50 and N100 respectively. An average bag sells for N6, 000 at Mushin market.
A pepper seller at Mile 12, Mallam Oseni Usman, who confirmed the fall in prices of ingredients, attributed the development to the season, adding that farmers are no longer afraid to cultivate new crops. Another trader also attributed this drastic development to seasonal changes.
At Mile 12 market, Mrs. Bimpe Olowu, a tomato seller said: “The price of these tomatoes change based on the season because it is not a stable market. These are perishable goods. The price of tomato will continue to be unstable because it is a seasonal good.”
The price of melon also known as Egusi has gone down because of its seasonal nature. A derica of melon seed sells for N300; N1,200 for plastic and N39,000 for a bag. Mr. Amos Osai, a melon seed seller simply said “The price came down because this is the season for it,” he told The Nation Shopping.
Traders at Ojuwoye market, Mushin attributed the former price increase to the rain. “Whenever it is rainy season, tomato and pepper would be very expensive or relatively out of stock. Before now, a basket was N30, 000 for tomato and N16, 000, N20, 000 for pepper from Mile12 Market, it has reduced to,” the trader said.
Expressing joy, a seller of the produce, Mrs. Silifat Kunle said, it is a good thing the price of tomato and pepper reduced because her customers had resolved to patronising tin tomato and dried grinded pepper sellers, popularly known as ‘Ata-gungun’, trying to safe cost.
On the other hand, a palm oil seller, Adam Umar said the price of item he sells has increased with five litres of groundnut oil now selling for N1,200 against the former N1, 000. Palm oil has also increased by 20per cent but like his colleague,he is optimistic that the price would reduce soon.
In recent times, beans has been the most expensive and consumers have not stopped lamenting due to its unstable price-especially those brought in from the northern part of the country. Mrs Adenike Taiwo, who sells beans in small and large quantities at Daleko market in Iyana-Isolo, Lagos, complained that a bag of Oloyin beans which used to cost N12, 500 is now N13, 500. At Mile-12 market also in Lagos, a beans seller, Nwode Friday, blamed the hike in the price on the government. “A bag of Oloyin beans which formerly cost N12,000 and N12, 500 has now soared to N13, 500. Also, a Derica priced at N180 now costs N200”, he said.
For onions, the price remained the same; a bag sells for N14, 000, while other small quantities go for N1, 000 and N500 respectively.
The price of rice has also gone down. A bag which formerly cost N9,000 now goes for N8, 600. The reason for this is unknown by traders as they believe it is just a normal happening in the market.
