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How housewives are coping with exorbitant cost of pepper

YEJIDE GBENGA-OGUNDARE reports that in addition to significant increase in cost of food items, many Nigerian homes that consume pepper in large quantities now device means of reducing what they eat.

A caterer, Moji Odubela, is not finding these seasons funning. The price of items for her trade is threatening to send her out of business. “Every year, there is usually a period when pepper and tomatoes go out of season and become scarce, it is a norm and we are used to it. But this year, things have been different and more difficult because of the fuel price hike which has led to an increase in food prices,” she said.

Odubela is not alone.

Speaking on the likely causes of price increase, an economist, Sharon Umoh said “waste of products due to poor storage system is a major factor. Pepper lasts for just a very few days after harvest before it gets rotten and this reduces the quantity that gets to the market and ultimately influences price.”

Significantly, the cost of foodstuffs and making meals has continued to rise in recent months, leading to feeding challenges for households across the nation and creating survival issues for food businesses. Indeed, many Nigerian families no longer have the luxury of three square meals or a balanced diet.

But for most Nigerian homes, especially in the Southwest region, where pepper is a necessity to cooking and food is not complete without a good dose of pepper and proteins, these are not the best of times as continuous increase in prices of pepper and onion is gradually taking this basic need out of their reach.

The fact that pepper is a major spice used in food makes it an essential commodity across the country and there is hardly a complete meal without use of, at least, one variety of pepper.

Pepper is an essential ingredient that cannot be avoided because of its usefulness; asides adding spice to make food palatable and being used to garnish food.

These uses make pepper indispensable to many and this is why many pepper lovers are feeling the brunt of the hike in price.

One of such people is Naomi Ajayi, a school teacher, who told Saturday Tribune that soup is now like something for special occassions, adding that with the price of pepper, it’s becoming difficult to cook soup regularly like before.

“I can’t remember the last time I cooked soup; what I do now is turn my rice and spaghetti to concoction rather than cook soup. Before I cook soup every two days using between N500 to N600 pepper but 1000 pepper doesn’t even last that number of days now.

“I just keep dry, granulated pepper at home that I use to concoct the meals and even to cook vegetable and egusi, the high cost of pepper in addition to fish or meat is making things difficult. Soup is now cooked on alternate weekends just to give the children a treat and it doesn’t even last the weekend,” she added.

For Esther Onosure, an undergraduate, “cooking is not sustainable with my pocket money and soup is even farfetched. I now eat a lot of noddles, spaghetti and cereals with garri and anytime I have the urge for pepper aside the powder form I sprinkle on noodles, I eat at a cafeteria. I had to cut down on feeding expenses to manage my allowance and cooking soup was one of the major things I had to cut out.

For Ademola Amoo, it is a complete change of lifestyle. “ I was brought up on fresh soup daily and this was what I ensured my wife practiced; we buy fresh products in small quantities daily because I don’t eat refrigerated soup or one that is warned to keep it edible.

“But now, I cannot afford to provide soup money daily, they cook and manage for like three to four days so I only eat the soup with them on the first day it is cooked and on other days, I just eat sparingly. I take more of bread and garri.

“The truth is that I don’t feed well again because I can’t afford what I’m used to. Pepper, protein and condiments are now so expensive that I had to change my lifestyle and feeding habit completely. I used to wonder how my wife manages to put things together,” he added.

Saturday Tribune investigations revealed that while seasonal variations impact the cost of vegetables, especially pepper, onions and tomatoes, the rate at which prices of pepper rise in the last month is unprecedented.

A market survey by the ICIR in October revealed that a large basket of tomatoes cost between N8,000 and N10,000 when it is in season and between N20,000 and N40,000 when it is not.

But today, the prices seems to defy predictions. A survey by Saturday Tribune in Ibadan revealed that a small sack of Bell pepper (Tatase) goes for N25, 000, a small sack of Cayenne pepper (Sombo) goes for N20, 000, Scotch bonnet or Habanero pepper (Ata rodo) goes for N35, 000, tomatoes are sold at N35,000 for Royal, that is the northern variey and N10,000 for the Yoruba variety while a sack of onion is sold between N100 000 and N120,000.

At another market, a medium sized basket of tomato costs N25, 000 while a crate is sold at 15,000 and a medium basket of bawa is sold at N17,000 and rodo at N10,000.

It was also discovered that the price of pepper changes almost daily and depending on which market one is patronising and it is quite unpredictable in the way it fluctuates.

While it is said that banditry, insecurity and harsh weather conditions are part of the factors responsible for hike in prices, the rising cost of transportation as a result of fuel subsidy removal.

While the price of pepper in Nigeria is subjected to seasonal fluctuation, rising domestic demand in addition drop in export, have been identified as key components that set the trend for the pepper market

In the Southwest where pepper is consumed in high quantities, the zone depends majorly on pepper brought in from the North, despite the fact that the zone also grows pepper. The cost of moving pepper from the northern region to the south is a huge determinant in prices especially considering the huge waste experienced during transportation and the exorbitant cost of fuel.

An agricultural extension worker, Bolu Ayantokun, told Saturday Tribune that in spite of high level of pepper production in Nigeria, the huge demand gap has forced the country to rely on importation of pepper to fill the gap, adding that insurgency in parts of the north has displaced farmers reducing the level of production.

“The insecurity situation that made farmers run away from the farm in addition to climate change and cost of transportation add to rising cost of pepper. We cannot also overlook pests and diseases that affect pepper plantations,” he said.

Madam Basirat Onabolu, a pepper seller said the increase in price of pepper is not strange adding that “fluctuating prices or increase in prices of pepper is not a new thing and we are used to it. It is true prices are high and making profit is becoming difficult because once it looks like it is expensive, people just walk away.

“So we try to maintain price; the smallest portion is still sold at N100 though we sell normal portions at N200. What we do is that we reduce the quantity, in order not to run at a loss or lose customers,” she said.

“Until there is a solid storage system that prevents waste and farmers stop getting just half or quarter of what they harvest to the market, the price regime for pepper will remain unpredictable and volatile,” she added.

A pepper seller at Moniya, Ibadan, Abubakar told Saturday Tribune that subsidy removal is a major factor adding that, “we are not wicked and it is not in our interest that people can’t afford our goods. Transportation cost from the North to Ibadan has increased and there was too much rains this year, leading to damage of produce because pepper does not like too much water. The rains caused a lot of loss and damages and it affected the price.”

At present, traders are lamenting low patronage while consumers are complaining of high prices. And while scarcity and increase in prices of tomato and pepper are an annual experience, the removal of petrol subsidy and increased in fuel price in addition to tomato Ebola disease, extreme weather conditions and pest attacks have made pepper more expensive this year.

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