Nigerians cry out due to the rise of food prices throughout the nation, with many questioning if things would ever improve.
“There is absolutely nothing that has not gone up in Nigeria. Just name it. Is it beans? The price of a basket of beans has doubled within one year. The fact that we keep complaining, yet things don’t get better is depressing. I only look to God for help,” Mrs Esther Agwu said.
Mrs Tessy Onoriode is puzzled by the fact that Nigeria is blessed with abundant food and farmers now have the technology to improve their yields, but the country still cannot feed its citizens.
In a discussion, Oluwafemi Abioye, president of the Agro Park Investors Association, claimed that every service provider working with farmers has raised their rates, forcing them to also raise the prices of their products to match the high costs of production.
“The worst of it all is insecurity, which has led to less farmers going to farm, while the population keeps increasing,” he explained.
Abioye goes on to say that if the government can tackle the issue of insecurity, many more farms will emerge, resulting in more production, more employment for people, and lower market prices for products.
However, as a farmer, Abioye has urged the government to actively support commercial farmers.
“Government needs to make several loans available and disburse the funds accordingly,” he added.
According to Abioye, if all of these problems are resolved and measures are put in place, there is a chance that food costs would drop dramatically, but the government must move quickly to keep hope alive.
