Bakori grains market booms as farmers start harvest

Businessmen from different parts of the country and abroad flood the market every Friday and Tuesday to buy grains ranging from soy beans, guinea corn, maize, beans and rice as well as tubers such as sweet potatoes and cocoyam.Soy beans are one of the highly demanded and expensive commodities in the market due to its […]

Businessmen from different parts of the country and abroad flood the market every Friday and Tuesday to buy grains ranging from soy beans, guinea corn, maize, beans and rice as well as tubers such as sweet potatoes and cocoyam.
Soy beans are one of the highly demanded and expensive commodities in the market due to its industrial requirement. Companies that are into milk, yoghurt, biscuits, edible oil and animal feeds are the major buyers of soy beans in Bakori grains market.
According to the chairman of the market (Sarkin Kasuwa), Alhaji Abdullahi Bakori, many companies come from within and outside the state to buy farm produce for their industries.
“As we all know, the forces of demand and supply are the determinant factors of the prices of commodities in this market, and Soya beans have got an upper hand for now due to its demand by companies and consumers.
The price of soya beans per bag now ranges from N10,800 to N11,200, depending on its quality and fullness of the bag,” he said.
Alhaji Abdullahi said guinea corn which is demanded mostly  by biscuit companies and breweries has a price of N4,700 per bag, adding that prices of commodities peak during the rainy season before the harvest of the new crops.
“In this month of August, the price of last year’s yellow maize is N5,000 per bag, white hybrid maize is N4,500 while this year’s maize that are not well dried cost N3,500 per bag of yellow maize and N3,000 per bag of white hybrid one.”
Investigations revealed that within the period of October to January, about 900 tonnes of yellow maize enter Bakori grains market every market day, while about 1,200 tonnes of white hybrid maize enters the market weekly, mostly from peasant and large scale farmers from Bakori, Kankara, Malumfashi, Kafur and Danja local government areas of Katsina State.
Merchants from Niger Republic, Chad and eastern Nigeria are the major buyers of yellow maize in the market which they supply to other markets with high demand of the commodity as well as some industries that are into poultry feeds.
Malam Hamidine Saedo is a Nigerien that buys both yellow and white maize from the market. He said that he normally buys at least two trailer loads of maize, translating into about 60 tonnes, to take to Doso, Tasawa and Damagaran markets in Niger Republic where he sell to bulk buyers.
This reporter found out that despite the influx of yellow maize in Bakori grains market, companies apart from those that are into poultry/animal feeds are yet to unravel the opportunities there in.
A merchant from Anambra State, Mr. Emmanuel Obi, said he is into maize business for decades and most of his buyers in the east are consumers, adding that yellow maize has more nutritional value than the white one and it is used in making some delicacies in the east.
Mr Obi said upon request, he supplies yellow maize to Boar Feeds & Concentrates, Iyana Ipaja, Lagos, and Livestock Feeds plc Ikeja, Lagos.
A farmer from Tsiga town of Bakori local government, Malam Hamza Dalha, said most farmers are less interested in planting yellow maize even though its price is higher than the white hybrid one in the market.
“A farm land where you harvest 50 bags of yellow maize will surely give you 60 bags of white hybrid maize while their price margin hardly exceeds N500 in the market hence we prefer to cultivate white hybrid maize over the yellow one,” he said.
He added that if government and companies patronise yellow maize that will greatlymotivate the farmers to cultivate it.
He lamented buying a bag of fertiliser at the rate of N4,500 – N5,000 when price of new maize starts from N3,000, describing it as very unfortunate. If that continues without improvements on market price of maize, the commodity will be in short supply in the markets, he said.
Rice
Rice is one of the major commodities in trade in Bakori grains market, its supply also comes from farmers in the locality, the neighbouring Zamfara and Kaduna states as well as Sokoto, Kebbi and Niger states.
The Chairman, rice sellers association in the market, Malam Isah Matsayi, said unlike soya beans and maize, the price of rice depends solely on its type and grade, adding that the price of a bag of processed rice ranges from N13, 000 to N15, 000 with major buyers coming from Sokoto, Birnin Kebbi, Kano states as well as Daura and Dankama in Katsina State.
This reporter gathered that in the months of October to January at least 5-trailer loads of processed rice are dispatched to different markets every market day while trailers carry 300 to 400 bags of unprocessed rice every market day and its price now starts from N4,500 per bag.
Bakori grains market gives many youths in the town an opportunity to venture into local rice business and many of them sustain their lives from that.
The market is one of the many big markets in Katsina State, attracting merchants from different places and helping to sustain the economy of the state through revenue generation and provision of jobs and food items.