The high prices of food items in the market amid its availability do not speak well of the over N1.25tn federal budget approved for the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security in three years to manage the sector, farmers and other stakeholders have stated.
Although they noted that there was little correlation between food prices and federal agricultural budgets, they questioned why food costs had continued to grow despite being available.
Farmers under the umbrella of the All Farmers Association of Nigeria expressed concern over the naira’s depreciation, stating that it was a significant factor in the high cost of foods despite federal agriculture budgets of over N1 trillion in 2022, 2023, and 2024.
Farmers’ fears were exacerbated by the Abuja Chamber of Commerce and Industry, which announced on Saturday that the continuous increase in food prices was escalating poverty levels across the country.
According to data from the Federation’s Budget Office, the overall budgetary allocations to the agriculture ministry throughout the three years of 2022, 2023, and 2024 were more than N1.25 trillion, however, the budgets dropped continuously on an annual basis.
In 2022, the agriculture ministry received approval for N71.84 billion in personnel costs, N3.7 billion in overhead, and N386.65 billion in capital projects, totaling N462.2 billion.
In 2023, the entire budgeted allocation was reduced to N426.99 billion, with staff costs of N80.94 billion, overhead of N4.5 billion, and capital project allocation of N341.6 billion.
The ministry’s 2024 budget was further reduced, with a total allocation of N362.94 billion, including N102.1 billion in staff costs, N8.1 billion in overhead, and N252.7 billion for capital projects.
However, the President of the All Farmers Association of Nigeria, Kabir Ibrahim, stated that the budgets have had little impact on food prices since commodities have remained high despite the hundreds of billions of naira expenditures to the agriculture ministry, whether at the state or federal levels.
He said “You should look at food availability and not the cost of food. Yes, there is a relationship that when there is availability and demand, there could be affordable prices, but in Nigeria, I don’t think that relationship holds because the devaluation of the naira has caused so much turbulence.
“Many things are astronomically high based on our income and the value of our currency. The turbulence in our economy today is also due to the devaluation of the naira.”
Asked whether there is food availability in Nigeria currently, Ibrahim replied, “Honestly I had this argument with some people on Good Morning Nigeria on NTA last week Monday. Now, go to any food market and ask them for food.
“You will find out that there is always food but it is very costly. Have you searched for any food item and it is not available? Except probably the vegetables now, and this is because most of us don’t practice greenhouse farming, but the open production of vegetables and the rainy season are not supportive of that.
“So you may find a scarcity of tomatoes, peppers, and all that. But this is normal, we have always had it like this during similar periods when there was rain. Otherwise, you can’t say that you went to the market and there is no rice, beans, etc. They are there now but they are costly.
“Therefore what we are experiencing is lack of affordability, not lack of availability. That is the difference. We have been talking about attaining food security and this means that food has to be available and affordable. Once it is not affordable for you and me, then it is as good as not there.”
