Residents of Imo and Abia in the South-East have blamed the persistently rising prices of foodstuffs in the country on the hike in the cost of transportation of goods.
The News Agency of Nigeria reports that prices of various foodstuffs, especially farm produce, have continued to skyrocket notwithstanding the season of harvest.
A cross-section of the people in Owerri said that the high cost of transportation was a direct impact of the fuel subsidy removal.
A cassava farmer, Mrs Chikaodi Igbokwe, said that although this is the period of harvest, farmers were paying through their noses to move their produce from the farm to the market.
Igbokwe said, “We pay heavily to transport produce from the farm to the market and this factor explains the reason for the hike in the prices of food items.”
An economist, Mr. Henry Acho, said that the prices of basic food items were in “constant competition with the increasing prices of basic services”.
Acho said that since farmers and food vendors depend on the gains made from their goods to be able to pay for manufactured goods and social services, “it is unlikely to expect them to sell at giveaway prices.
“The inflation is general and not just about food items.
“What has not inflated? Education and healthcare services as well as landed property and social services – all are on the rise,” he said.
A senior staff member of the state Ministry of Agriculture, Mr Ken Chukwuemeka, said that the Imo Government was taking steps to cushion the impact of inflation on citizens.
According to Chukwuemeka, in recent times, farmers received inputs and palliatives distributed by the State Government.
Miss Harriet Ijeomah, the Executive Director of Harsco Media and Communication, a media consultancy firm with strong interests in agriculture, urged the Federal Government to empower farmers in the Southern part of the country.
Ijeomah said that empowering farmers would help them to produce more, and encourage competition between the farmers in the country.
NAN
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