Food Price Crash: Relief for Nigerians, Ruin for Farmers

By God’spower Ede, Lafia

The recent crash in prices of food crops in Nigeria has generated mixed reactions among farmers and buyers alike.

While the development brings relief to many families struggling to afford three square meals, the same cannot be said for Nigerian farmers.

They have invested heavily in costly farming activities, including high costs of farm inputs like fertilizers, herbicides, seedlings, and expensive labor during the cropping season.

Ordinarily, the dramatic drop in food prices across the country should be a welcome development for all Nigerians, given the excruciating hardships endured by the people as a result of the economic reforms introduced by the President Bola Ahmed Tinubu administration two years ago.

However, this is not the case for crop farmers, taking into account their huge investments that require some level of recovery through sales of their produce.

Notably, farmers in the country had to purchase a bag of fertilizer for over N50,000, herbicides at above N10,000 per liter, seedlings at an expensive rate, and tractor hiring and human labor were also costly.

Other factors like herders and pest invasion of farm produce and natural disasters such as drought and flooding were equally huge challenges to positive yields in many instances.

Now that the crops are being harvested for sales, the prices have crashed beyond the expectations of farmers.

Their investments appear to have gone down the drain beyond recovery.

Many farmers relied on loan facilities, while others had to dispose of valuable assets to invest in farms.

This has led to a high debt burden, and many cannot afford to offset necessary bills, including children’s school fees and medical expenses.

If this trend continues without a remedy, many farmers may not be able to return to farms next season, which could eventually lead to another round of hunger and increased food prices in the future.

Therefore, to address this looming danger, there is a compelling need for the appropriate authorities to review policies related to crop production.

These includes, initiating subsidies to make farm inputs like fertilizers and herbicides affordable for farmers.

Equally, government can ensure a fair reduction in transportation costs to help farmers save costs in the process of evacuation of the produce to markets.

Like in the developed society, there is the need to provide ready markets for local farm produce to enable farmers regain their investments and avoid needless wastage.

While the current situation can be attributable to the ongoing economic reforms, the government can as well review some of its policies related to the prices of petroleum products, exchange rates unification, and high tax regimes to mitigate their multiplier effects on the economy.

By implementing these measures, the government can help ensure that the crash in food prices does not come at the expense of the nation’s hardworking farmers.

A balance must be struck between affordable food prices and fair returns for farmers.

God’spower Ede is a Senior News Editor with the Nasarawa Broadcasting Service Lafia
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