The cost of preparing a pot of jollof rice for a family of five has risen by 4.98 per cent in the 3rd quarter of the year.
This was disclosed in the quarterly SBM Jollof index report for Q3 2021, published by SBM Intelligence.
According to the report, prices of cooking gas affected food prices as the price of a kilogramme of gas at retail outlets rose from N500 in June to N700 in September, affecting the cost of a pot of jollof rice, which has risen from N7,618 in June 2021 in Q2 2021 to N8007.50.
“The cost of making a pot of jollof rice for a family of five remains high across the country. On average, it will cost N8007.50 which is higher than the average cost in Q2 which stood at N7,618, a percentage difference of 4.98. It will cost the highest to make a pot of jollof rice in Nyanya, Abuja at N10,050 and it will cost the lowest in Akwa, where the cost is N6,910.
“Abuja markets have since it overtook Kano in Q3 2018, had the highest cost of making a pot of jollof rice, particularly, at Wuse Market. The prices of food in Nyanya (an outskirt market) overtook prices in Wuse, a market right in the centre of Abuja” the report said.
SBM Intelligence said respondents to the survey had informed that due to the rise in the cost of gas, they had simply reduced the refill weight per visit to gas refill plants, with no long term solution in sight.
The survey added that the price of cooking gas rose astronomically, with the National Association of Liquefied Petroleum Gas Marketers (NALPGAM), an umbrella organisation of cooking gas marketers warning that the refilling price for a 12.5kg gas cylinder might hit N10,000 before December.
“Nigerian consumers are price sensitive and as such, they will explore substitutes, mostly dirty fuels, representing a setback for efforts by government and key private and civil society stakeholders to ramp up gas adoptions in the homes and kitchens of Nigeria. Before the sharp rise in prices, the cost of switching from dirty fuels to cooking gas was a disincentive to most consumers, particularly in rural and periurban areas,” the report said.
It urged that the concept of governance places the responsibility of effecting change not just with the government but with multiple actors, including the entire food supply chain consisting of farmers, processors, distributors and final consumers.
The report stated that a multi-actor strategy that ensures sustainability is needed to stabilize prices including improving market information; invest in agricultural interventions that would improve production levels; de-risk investment in agriculture; invest in food storage infrastructure, and remove import restrictions on essential food items.
“We recommend that solving the problems of food insecurity should take a “whole of society approach” — involving the participation of different stakeholders across the food supply chain rather than the top-down approach,” SBM added.
