Some agriculture experts have proposed solutions to address the rising food inflation in the country.
The experts said this in separate interviews with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Tuesday in Lagos, while reacting to the May inflation figure.
The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) reported that Nigeria’s headline inflation rate increased to 33.95 percent in May 2024.
The NBS said this in its Consumer Price Index and Inflation Report for May, which was released on Saturday.
According to the report, this figure is 0.26 percentage points higher than the 33.69 percent recorded in April 2024.
It said that on a year-on-year basis, the headline inflation rate in May 2024 was 11.54 per cent higher than the rate recorded in May 2023, which was 22.41 per cent.
The report said the food inflation rate in May 2024 increased to 40.66 per cent yearly, which was 15.84 per cent higher than the 24.82 per cent recorded in May 2023.
The NBS said in May 2024, food inflation on a year-on-year basis was highest in Kogi with 46.32 per cent followed by Ekiti with 44.94 per cent and Adamawa with the lowest figure of 31.72 per cent.
Mr Akin Alabi, an agriculture analyst, said subsidising farm inputs to local farmers would help stem the growing food inflation.
“The rising food inflation in the latest NBS report indicates the need for urgent action by the government.
“There is an urgent need for the government to begin to subsidise farm inputs for smallholder farmers.
“Subsiding farm inputs for local farmers will help reduce the growing food inflation in the country,” he said.
Alabi also called for the set-up and implementation of a commodity board price.
“The government needs a monitoring agency to monitor food prices as it leaves the farm to the market.
“Sometimes, middlemen intentionally inflate the price of food items and exploit the average buyer with exorbitant prices.
“For example, they should target major markets to monitor the prices, but again, you cannot dictate food prices when you have not subsidised the inputs for farmers.
“As a country, we must involve inter-state partnerships, and each must recognise their crop strengths and exchange them with lacking states,” Alabi said.
On his part, Mr Omotunde Banjoko, an agriculture analyst and farmer, explained that the reasons for persistent food inflation were multifaceted.
Banjoko noted that the high cost of transportation was a factor in the increase in food prices.
“It costs a lot to transport agro-produce from where they are being cultivated to the markets.
“Even petrol sells as high as N600 per litre in some states and N800 and above in others. All these logistics costs are also factored into the cost of cultivation and sales.
“The cost of crop cultivation is going up every week; hence, food inflation is imminent.
“For instance, in poultry and animal farming, the feed cost is rather unpredictable and increasing daily.
“Currently, many poultry and animal farms have shut down in recent months due to these increasing costs, so it is not about making profits.
“Only those few who can meet the cost of cultivation are still in business. So, we have less food production,” Banjoko said.
He explained that the cost of food items would keep increasing with the closure of more farms.
“The government should help subsidise the country’s food cultivation cost and harmonise taxes for agro-produce.
“We heard the government is already on it, and if implemented, it would be a step in the right direction in ending food inflation.
“Multiple taxation on farmers should be stopped to address this food inflation. Farmers sometimes incur more costs in multiple taxation,” he said.
Also speaking, Dr Ismail Olawale, a strategic agriculture communication expert, said multiple taxation and adequate transportation of agro-produce must be addressed.
“We do not need economic statistics to begin to explain the effects of this inflation; everyone is witnessing it.
“In the northwest, farmers bring in so much produce and livestock to sell without greed.
“However, the middlemen are the major problem; they buy the produce from the farmers in bulk, and middlemen sell it at exploitative prices.
“The middlemen buy these items and hoard them to increase the prices later. Some even sell these produce to neighbouring countries to the detriment of the locals.
“They sell to the highest bidders and allow the average Nigerian to bear the brunt of the cost,” Olawale said.
He added that taxes collected from farmers at the border of every state during the transportation of these produce were factored into the price of the produce.
“All these are underlying factors that influence the food inflation in the country. Food inflation will gradually drop if the government can handle this illegal multiple taxation on agro-produce.
“Food inflation is not caused by the stock exchange; we must get logistics right and address multiple taxes.
“The transportation system is crucial in determining the price of food items in Nigeria,” he said.
