Tomato prices have crashed in the market but the cost of accompanying food items has skyrocketed in the past few days, FIJ can report.
Traders at the Mile 12 International Market, Lagos, said that the prices of food items like onions, scotch bonnet (ata rodo), red bell pepper (tatase), and cayenne pepper (ata sombo) have risen significantly in contrast to the cost of tomatoes.
Following reports about the crash of tomato prices, FIJ visited the market on Wednesday, to know the reason behind the crash and the recent cost of its accompaniments.
FIJ learnt that a bag of onions, for instance, costs between N100,000 and N135,000 as against the N50,000 that it previously sold for.
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Bashiru Ahmed, who has been selling pepper at Mile 12 for over 20 years, explained that onions were becoming unaffordable, almost like they were in a race to replace tomatoes in price.
Bashiru Ahmed. Photo Credit: FIJ.
Affirming what Ahmed had said, a woman who also had her wares in the heart of the Mile 12 Market, close to an unofficial park in the heart of the market, attributed the hike in the cost of onions to scarcity.
“There has been an increase in the price of onions per bag. It used to be N50,000, but it is currently sold for N100,000,” she noted.
FIJ gathered that the prices of other accompaniments like ata rodo have also gone up in the past three days. As in the case of onions, traders also attributed the hike in cost to scarcity.
“On the part of ata rodo, scarcity is currently pushing up its price, a bag of it was N95,000 two days ago but it is now also N100,000,” the market woman said.
Musa told me a bowl of this now costs N16,500. Photo Credit: FIJ.
Musa, who sold onions just close to the entrance with the ‘Mile 12 International Market’ insignia, said that the rise in the prices of onions could be blamed on the cost of transportation.
Traders offloading bags of onions. Photo Credit: FIJ.
“The cost of tomatoes might have been reduced but onions are becoming more expensive. Even in the North, where they come from, they cost N110,000 per bag,” Musa told FIJ on Wednesday.
WHY IS TOMATO CHEAPER?
Different traders in the market gave multiple reasons why tomatoes had become cheaper to buy.
Ahmed, for instance, said that the price drop was seasonal. He explained that the market was reacting to the surplus supply of tomatoes typical of the season.
This bowl used to be around N40,000 about a week ago, but the trader said I could pay N17,000 for it. Photo Credit: FIJ.
Ahmed said each plate of tomatoes now goes for N500 unlike a week before. Photo Credit: FIJ.
“The price of a basket was previously between N70,000 and N50,000. It can now be sold as low as N30,000. The fall in the price of tomatoes is due to its availability. Anyone coming into the market can now get it. It is just based on the time of the year,” Ahmed told FIJ.
The woman who spoke to FIJ said that the price crash was temporary and that prices were bound to soar by April 2025. She attributed it to the good harvest that tomato farmers were enjoying.
“Tomato prices have truly crashed; a crate is now between N25,000 and N30,000, this same crate was sold for N80,000 previously. And a basket which was over N100,000 is now N40,000,” she said on Wednesday.
“You can say the crash is because of the bountiful harvest enjoyed by farmers. But after this season, let’s say by April of next year, the prices will pick up again and people will have to pay more to get it.”
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Another trader FIJ spoke with believed that the crash in the price of tomatoes was caused by the 10-day #EndBadGovernance protest which prevented the farmers from bringing their produce to the market.
“I was surprised to buy a basket of tomatoes for N40,000. I think the protests are responsible for the price crash. Farmers could not sell their produce during the protest and now they are all in the market to sell. The availability of the fruit has forced a reduction in the price,” the trader stated.
According to the National Bureau of Statistics, Nigeria has seen a steady increase in food inflation in recent months.
In June, the country recorded an all-time high of 40%. That same month, the price of a kilogram of tomatoes rose by about 56%, from approximately N1,470 to N2,300.
The post CONFIRMED: Tomatoes Now Cheaper but Onion, Pepper Prices Double in Lagos Market appeared first on Foundation For Investigative Journalism.