Some agriculture experts have called for a review of the federal government’s agriculture policies to address the country’s rising food inflation.
The stakeholders made the call in separate interviews in Lagos while reacting to the October Price Index and Inflation Report released by the National Bureau of Statistics on Friday.
The NBS said Nigeria’s headline inflation rate increased to 33.88 per cent in October 2024.
According to the report, the headline inflation rate year-on-year is 33.88 per cent as against the 32.70 per cent recorded in September 2024.
The NBS said that the Food Index rose to 39.16 per cent in October, in contrast to the 37.77 per cent recorded in September. It said food inflation on a year-on-year basis was highest in Sokoto at 52.18 per cent and lowest in Kwara at 31.68 per cent.
The deputy chairman of the All Farmers Association of Nigeria, Lagos chapter, Shakin Agbayewa, blamed inadequate agro-policies and illegal tolls for the consistent food inflation rate in the country.
Mr Agbayewa said, “The truth of the matter is that the right agriculture policies are not in place to address the growing food inflation in the country.
The government need to create agriculture policies targeted at the grassroots to address this issue.
“For example, the trucks that will transport agro-produce from the farms to the table of the consumer are faced with multifaceted problems, ranging from the high cost of diesel to multiple illegal taxation.
“All these expenses all contribute to the rise in food inflation which the final consumers will have to bear the brunt. We have interstate taxes, local government taxes and even taxes from thugs.”
He added, “If we cannot secure our farms and free movement of agro-produce across the country, all other agro-policies are just window dressing.
All illegal tolling and taxation on the road should be reduced to the barest minimum. We should stop exploiting ourselves.”
He said that extortion and exploitation contribute to food inflation in the country.
“At Ikola Abule-Egba axis of Lagos state, a bag of rice sells at N85,000, but at Ibafo, that same bag sells at N210,000. So, what is the cause for the big variance? It is just pure extortion and exploitation. It is artificial inflation that is killing us,” added Mr Agbayewa.
Omotunde Banjoko, agriculture consultant and analyst, harped on embracing local food production instead of imports.
“The inflation figure for October 2024 is funny at 39.1 per cent from 37 per cent in September 2024. And if you look at it compared to the figure in October 2023, when we were still doing around 27 per cent, and we thought it was high.
“I think to curb inflation, the solution remains we have to encourage local production. We have to start patronising local production of what we eat. That is the only way out of this rising inflation rate,” said Mr Banjoko.
Mr Banjoko added, “Until we start embracing and putting a lot of value on the health benefits, the impact on the economy of local production over importation, we will keep having this issue of swirling inflation.”
He also reiterated the importance of the government to review policies detrimental to food security in the country.
“On the part of the government, what they can do is to have the proper policies discouraging importation of items for which we have a comparative advantage in that production.
“Secondly, the rising cost of transportation is having serious effects on food prices.
We have been talking about the conversion to gas, but how many cars have been converted to gas? How many of those lorries have been converted to gas? Most of them feel comfortable using diesel,” Mr Banjoko explained.
Mr Banjoko added, “Palliatives will not solve our hunger issue.
What will solve our hunger issue is to wake the Bank of Agriculture up and empower them to empower farmers.
Let direct costs go into production, and then food prices can start crashing.”