₦airaland Forum

THE FARMER SAYS FOOD IS TOO CHEAP. THE CONSUMER SAYS IT IS TOO EXPENSIVE. HOW CAN BOTH BE RIGHT?

My cook, David, recently asked permission to travel home to Nasarawa State because his father was ill.

When he returned to Abuja, naturally, my first question was: "How is your father?" Thankfully, he was doing better.

Then I asked David two questions that particularly interested me: "Have the farmers returned to their farms?" "And how was the harvest?"

I asked because David comes from a farming family. His parents farm. So I wasn't looking for government statistics; I wanted to hear what was happening on the ground.

His answer initially delighted me.

"Yes, sir. People are farming again. The security situation in nasarawa as regards farming is now almost a thing of the Past" "And the harvest?" "Very good."

FANTASTIC! More farmers. Good harvest. More food. Surely everybody should be happy?

David shook his head. "No, sir. There is a problem." That stopped me.
He explained that his mother had actually LOST MONEY on part of her harvest because produce prices had fallen so low locally that what she received could barely justify the cost and effort of producing it.

And this matters because farming families don't live on yam, maize or tomatoes alone. The profit from selling their harvest is what buys cooking oil, seasoning cubes, soap, medicine, school needs and other things they cannot grow.

Suddenly, the contradiction hit me. A FARMER IN NASARAWA CAN COMPLAIN THAT FOOD IS TOO CHEAP WHILE A FAMILY IN ABUJA COMPLAINS THAT THE SAME FOOD IS TOO EXPENSIVE.

How can both be right? Because somewhere between the FARM and the PLATE, something is broken.

The farmer may receive ₦1,000. By the time his produce is aggregated, transported, handled, stored, partly spoiled, subjected to market charges and finally retailed in Abuja, the consumer may pay ₦2,000 or ₦3,000.

The urban consumer says: " Food is too expensive!" The farmer says: "Food is too cheap!" And the remarkable thing is: BOTH MAY BE TELLING THE TRUTH.
This is why Nigeria's food-security debate cannot end with "produce more food."

Production is only HALF the journey.We must also ask: How cheaply can we move that food from Nasarawa, Benue, Plateau, Kano and Kaduna into Abuja, Lagos and other huge consumption centres?

Can farmers store produce instead of being forced to sell immediately after harvest when everybody is selling? Can aggregation centres connect farmers directly to large buyers?

Can cold storage prevent tomatoes and vegetables from becoming rotten losses? Can better roads and rail reduce transportation costs?

This is why I am increasingly interested in Lagos's Fresh Food Hub experiment and similar ideas.

Because Nigeria may not merely have a FOOD PRODUCTION problem.

We also have a FOOD DISTRIBUTION problem. And David's mother may be standing at one end of it, complaining: "MY FOOD IS TOO CHEAP."
While millions of Nigerians in urban cities stand at the other end shouting:"FOOD IS TOO EXPENSIVE!"

Somewhere between those two Nigerians lies a problem we desperately need to solve.