Expensive foodstuffs: Patronage plummets nationwide, as food vendors’ lamentations grow louder

In this report, MICHAEL BABATUNDE examines how the rising food costs and cost of living have affected food vending business in the country.

As the nation’s food inflation worsens, with prices of foodstuffs increasing on a daily basis, food vendors, whose businesses rely solely on the patronage of people, have expressed fears that their businesses may fold up soon if the situation persists.

In past reports, Sunday Tribune chronicled the challenges many Nigerians were facing over the rising cost of living, particularly food, transport, medications and other basic amenities, showing a wide range of sufferings that many people are grappling with.

Food vendors, who recently spoke with Sunday Tribune, explained that sustaining their businesses amid the skyrocketing prices of foodstuffs, goods and services has been difficult.

Many of them told Sunday Tribune that while still trying to maintain good quality, they have had to reduce the quantity of the food they cook and increase their own prices, which invariably made them lose customers.

They expressed the fear that they may be out of business should the situation persist.

Expressing herself in Yoruba, Kafayat Taiwo, a mother of four, who sells her food by the roadside in Abeokuta, said, “There is a song that we sing that says if life is rolling, we should roll with it. That is exactly what we are doing. Prices are increasing, so I increased my prices. Before now, I sell food for N50 per spoon and there was a time when we used to have N50 ponmo. I sometimes give out food packs for free, but now a spoon goes for N200, there is no free pack while ponmo or meat is fixed at N100, no matter how tiny it is.

“I don’t cook as much as I used to and I try to avoid leftovers. If eventually it remains, my family members will eat the rest, but there is rarely an occasion when there’s leftover after sales for the day. I stay as late as 11pm to ensure I don’t go home with leftovers unlike when my food would have finished by 9pm.

“People still eat. They buy what they can afford. I still make profit but not as much as I used to. I have reduced the quantity of what I cook because of the rising cost and this implies that I can’t make as much profit as before. The quality is still there but the quantity has reduced.”

For Temilade Olorunju, who runs what could pass as a luxurious restaurant, increasing her price list is a must as she has other expenses to battle with aside from the increasing food prices in the market.

“When you entered here, you saw that the light was on, it is not NEPA, it is from the generator and everywhere is cool because we put the AC on and they watch TV. We buy fuel, we subscribe to cable service, we have to pay workers and maintain this building, but market prices are choking us. People will still come here and say our food is still expensive, isn’t that annoying?” Olorunju queried.

Food crisis was projected

It will be recalled that in October 2022, the United Nations Children’s Education Fund (UNICEF) predicted that 25 million Nigerians were at risk of facing hunger between June and August 2023 (lean season) if urgent action is not taken to salvage.

Similarly, a report by The Cadre Harmonisé, an initiative focused on food and nutrition analysis, which conducted studies biannually (in March and October) across 26 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) estimated that 26.5 million people will be grappling with high levels of food insecurity in 2024.

The survey listed factors driving this trend to include conflicts, climate change impacts, escalating inflation, and rising costs of both food and essential non-food commodities (in part due to the devaluation of the naira and the discontinuation of the petrol subsidy).

Many spectators also blamed the rising food prices on the impact of government policies such as the removal of subsidies on petrol by the Bola Tinubu-led administration.

Official data from government sources put the fear of food insecurity into proper perspective when the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) revealed that Nigeria’s annual inflation rate at the end of 2023 stood at 28.92 percent in December 2023, putting pressure on living cost for many Nigerians. The December 2023 figure, not only pushed inflation in the country to the highest in 27 years, but also showed 7.58 percent points increase compared to the rate recorded in December 2022, which was 21.34 percent.

About a month later, the NBS declared a 29.9 percent inflation rate for January 2024, indicating that the headline inflation rate increased year-on-year (YoY) by 0.98 percentage points from 28.92 per cent in December 2023. The CPI report for January 2024 also revealed that food inflation also increased to 35.41 percent during the period from 33.93 percent in December 2023.

“On a month-on-month basis, the food inflation rate in January 2024 was 3.21%; this was 0.49 percentage points higher compared to the rate recorded in December 2023 (2.72 percent).

“The average annual rate of food inflation for the twelve months ending January 2024 over the previous twelve-month average was 28.91 percent, which was a 7.38 percentage point increase from the average annual rate of change recorded in January 2023 (21.53%),” the report stated further.

Past reports have equally shown that persistent violence in the North-Eastern states of Borno, Adamawa, and Yobe have also hindered food availability and access amidst armed banditry and kidnappings in North-West and North-Central states, including Katsina, Sokoto, Kaduna, Benue, and Niger, while exacerbating the prevailing economic struggles.

Though the government has shown concerns by declaring a state of emergency on food insecurity in July 2023 to tackle the increase in food prices, among recent interventions, it appears there is no reprieve in sight for the challenge that food crisis poses.

In allaying the fears of many Nigerians over the food crisis early in the month, Finance Minister, Olawale Edun, said the president will “provide grain, fertilizers to farmers and bring rice, wheat, maize, and cassava under additional acreage, additional production in order to increase the output and thereby bring down prices and that will help bring down the inflation.”

Edun, however, blamed the recent increase in food prices on rising demand, saying the only way to address the situation is to boost agricultural production.

As the situation gets unbearable, Nigerians have begun to express their displeasure through protests spread across the country.

There were protests by angry youths in Minna, Niger State and Kano over the rising cost of living in the country.

In one of the events, protesters blocked the Minna-Bida Road at the popular Kpakungu Roundabout and called on the Tinubu administration to address the problem of ‘hunger in the land,” but they were dispersed by police authorities.

In Kano State, Governor Abba Yusuf allayed the fears of the youth over the crisis and assured them that he would take their complaints to the president.

This and many other interventions appear to have failed to address the yearnings of the citizenry who continue to grapple with rising food and transportation costs. It is one of the reasons why the country’s two biggest workers’ unions mulled an indefinite strike to protest a cost of living crisis.

The unions (Nigeria Labour Congress and Trade Union Congress) have been pushing the president to reverse his May 2023 decision to end petrol subsidies which, according to them, has led to sharp increases in prices of fuel, cost of food, transportation and power as most businesses and households now rely on petrol generators for electricity.

More vendors complain

The overbearing effect of the high cost of living has affected the operations of more vendors.

Because her outlet is situated in a student environment, Elizabeth Utave still has to be considerate in determining the cost of her food in spite of the increasing food prices. This is to ensure she makes profit no matter how little and prevent having leftovers which happens when students don’t patronise her.

She said, “We cannot close down our shop because of this increase, we have to buy and remain in business. We have reviewed our own price, change is constant, people complain when they come but what do we do? We establish our business to make profit. Even if it is no longer much, we can’t afford to go home running at loss.

“What do we stand to gain by reducing quality? Though that may look like an option but you will lose the small customer base you’re managing; we don’t reduce quality. Our profit has dropped somehow because there’s no money and people are not buying food like they used to. The decrease in sales has forced us to reduce our quantity. When we cook in the morning, we make sure everything finishes before we cook another one.

“People complain but they still buy. On our own end, we make sure the food we sell gives people value for their money. We let them understand that it is not our fault, it is just the way things are and they are reasonable people. Even in the review of our prices, we are still very considerate.”

Uchemna Amarachi is more like an online vendor. She cooks and makes deliveries to customers upon orders. She has had to increase her prices to remain in business.

She said: “It has been a roller-coaster of price changes in the sense that if I get something at the market today for N500, I may be getting the same tomorrow for N1,000. Prices are on the high side. If I sell beef for N500 this week, I may need to sell it for N700 next week. I am at the verge of closing down because people can’t afford to pay for these exotic meals.

“The inflation has affected my price list. I used to sell a plate of jollof rice with beef for N1,500, now it is N1,900. I can’t be running at a loss, so I had to increase the price to stay in business. The quantity has reduced; I cook less because the patronage has dropped, not because I cook bad but because people can no longer keep up with the cost. I have had to reduce the size of my plate.”

On her profit and expenses, she said, “I make N40,000 profit weekly after reducing expenses but now, I can’t get up to N20,000. It has gotten that bad. It’s even confusing. Usually, I go to the market with about N100,000 and still come back with N20,000 but now it is something else.

“I don’t cook much but if it remains, I give it out to people around me because it is not good to sell leftovers the next day. My quality remains the same because I eat what I sell. If it is not suitable for me to eat, I won’t sell. People can only complain of price, not quality,” Amarachi added.

Iya Anu, who runs a ‘buka’ opposite a metal factory in Ogun State, said, “It has not been easy but we cannot lock down our business; this is our means of survival. As a way of coping, we have had to increase our food prices, reduce the quantity as people no longer buy like they used to.

“Since we reduced the quantity due to low patronage, our income has also drastically reduced. Sometimes we close when we run out of food, other times we may cook extra using our assessment of the day’s sales trend. We still maintain our quality but that is at the expense of an increase in our food prices and reduction in portions we used to sell.

“We used to record very high sales because of the factory around but right now, factory workers have lots of expenses to cover up. Their salaries are not increasing like their expenses, such as transport and family needs, are increasing. At this point, we also cannot afford to sell on credit. Everyone must operate within the limit of what they earn.”

As the lamentations of the people continue to grow over the rising living cost in the country, many obversers are optimistic that the situation will change for the better if certain coordinated responses are put in place. One of such responses is government collaboration and support for increased local production.

While calling for an urgent action on food inflation, naira depreciation and insecurity recently, the Nigerian Governors’ Forum disclosed that state governors have agreed to collaborate with food millers and commodity traders in their various states to boost food availability as an immediate short-term action.