Nigerians groan as staple foods soar beyond reach Kano residents decry tomato scarcity
Fresh tomatoes sellers waiting for buyers at Yan Kaba vegetable market in Kano so merchants brought in tomatoes from other places. Due to high demand for the commodity, the business became saturated with buyers while the supply was very minimal, leading to the price going high.
“As you can see, many of us do not have the capital to buy the commodity anymore because the price has gone up beyond our reach. I have never experienced a situation like this in my 28 years in the business, this is alarming. There is a need for authorities to do something about this,” he said.
Malam Gambo Muhammad is a resident of Tarauni quarters, and according to him, many households that can afford it have resorted to the use of sachet tomato paste while others that cannot afford the sachet tomato have resorted to the use of dried tomato.
“Many households are now using concentrated sachet tomato paste which is now selling at N200 per 210g and those that cannot afford it are now using dry tomatoes,” he said.
However, a Kano-based tomato farmer Malam Halliru Bello Gafan has urged the authorities to come to farmers’ aid with substantial support to produce tomato during the rainy season.
In Kwara, Mrs Eyiwunmi Taiwo, a resident of Adewole, Ilọrin West local government area, said the situation is scary unless something drastic is done to stop the continuous inflation.
“I sell cooked noodles but it will interest you to know that I can’t eat from it the way I used to before and still make appreciable profit because of the escalating cost of foodstuffs. I don’t buy the noodles in cartons but the ones that have been bagged which used to cost about N19,000 but now sold for N29,500. I had prepared to sell today but had to shelve it when I got to the market because of escalating prices.
On her part, Mrs Omowumi Mohammed, a foodstuffs and provision trader, told Daily Trust Saturday that “A rubber of rice that once sold for around N1,800 is now N2,200 while 50 pieces of Knorr bullion cube is now 1,200 from N800. Bread is now N1,200 for family loaf as against N500-N600 and N50 biscuits is now N100 with reduced quantity. According to a Yoruba proverb, we now eat money not food. People are just living passively, hoping that things will be better despite the fact that the reality has not reflected that.”
Another resident, Hajia Ishola Oladuni, a civil servant, said it is now increasingly difficult to stock the home with basic ingredients and eat three square meals a day.
According to her, “The struggle to put food on the table daily is another story entirely. Now, we can’t even drink garri conveniently or have snacks in between meals. I just imagine what will happen when this continues. For how long are we going to lament?
years. They also collected agreement fee and commission. We made the payment inside the school,” she alleged.
A resident, Adebayo Kazeem, admitted that some traders had been issued vacation notice, but others were not served.
“Those in front of Reverend Kuti Grammar School said they knew and prepared as they could come any moment, but other people in front of Nawairudden Primary and Secondary said they were not aware. They were all shocked when the demolition started,” Kazeem said.