Why Farmers Earn Too Little While Nigerians Pay Too Much for Food

My cook, David, recently travelled to Nasarawa State to see his ill father. When he returned to Abuja, he told me that farmers had gone back to their farms as security had improved and that the harvest was very good. But there was a problem. David said his mother lost money on part of her harvest because local produce prices were so low that they barely covered the cost of farming. Yet families in Abuja are still struggling with high food prices. Both sides may be right. A farmer may sell produce for ₦1,000, but aggregation costs, transport, market levies, storage losses, spoilage and retail margins can push the final price to ₦2,000 or ₦3,000. Nigeria does not only need to produce more food; it needs better storage, cold-chain facilities, transport links and direct access to major buyers. Somewhere between the farm and the consumer's plate, the food distribution system is failing.

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