Beans farmers explain why price keeps skyrocketing

In January 2019, a 50kg bag of beans at Auta-Balefi Beans Market along the Abuja-Keffi highway cost between N5,000 and N7,000 depending on the quality and variety. The situation is however different this year, as the price of the same quantity now goes for between N26,000 and N35,000 depending on the variety and quality of […]

In January 2019, a 50kg bag of beans at Auta-Balefi Beans Market along the Abuja-Keffi highway cost between N5,000 and N7,000 depending on the quality and variety.

The situation is however different this year, as the price of the same quantity now goes for between N26,000 and N35,000 depending on the variety and quality of the beans.

According to informed sources, no fewer than 15 truckloads of beans leave the market every week as far as Ibadan, the Oyo State capital.

It was gathered that most of the farmers who supply beans to the market are those who fled insurgency from Borno and Adamawa states.

A farmer, Tahir Musa, told our reporter who visited the market on Saturday that the 2021 harvest was low compared to that of 2019.

Musa said: “In 2019, we had a good harvest and there was beans everywhere. Then, we were even begging people to come and buy. I recall selling the 50kg bag at N4000 because I needed money to solve a pressing need. But last year, the harvest was very low because the rains suddenly stopped so the beans could not do well.”

At the market, it was learnt that a 50kg of white beans which sold at N18, 000 in November 2021 is now N32,000, with indicators showing that the hike in price will be continuous as demand for the commodity is increasing due to scarcity.

Despite the hike in price, it was gathered that certain varieties, like the brown and the milk-coloured beans, are in short supply and the little available is in high demand.

Quizzed on why the prices keep skyrocketing, he said: “Honestly, I don’t know the main cause. It is better to buy now if you have the money. If you come back here tomorrow, the prices may have gone up again. That is how the market has been. Despite the price increase, demand is very high because people must eat.”

Another farmer in the market, Ibrahim Abdulkadir, told our reporter that the continuous hike in beans price is attributed to the setbacks due to unhealthy preservation methods and as such its market value has dwindled in the last three years.

Abdulkadir added that beans farmers have reduced the size of land they cultivate, while others abandoned their cultivation hence the scarcity and hike in its price.

“As a result of the poor preservation problem in the country, the Nigerian Stored Products Research Institute (NSPRI) was here to educate us on the appropriate handling of pesticides to save lives and restore international confidence in Nigerian grains,” he revealed.