Nigerians groan as maize scarcity bites harder

NIGERIANS are currently groaning over their inability to purchase maize in the market, at a season that it is usually in abundance, as its scarcity bites harder.

Maize, a staple food of most Nigerians, is currently scarce in the country. It was reported that those who even planted it this season had sold out the produce to neighbouring countries, where they earned more pay.

The current shortage of maize is also confronting food production sector as well as poultry farming, since maize is a basic ingredient of production of livestock and fish feeds.

Farmers from the North, who have species of maize rich in protein and valuable for production have been reportedly diverting the produce to the neighbouring countries, where they sold it in foreign currencies, because of the falling standard of Naira.

The development, some experts said, had resulted in more profit for the farmers, who would have earned less for the same risk and distance to bring down their produce to the South.

Some other experts and stakeholders believed, however, that pest ravaged so many farms in the North, recalling that the Minister of Agriculture, Chief Audu Ogbeh, had raised the alarm of possible invasion of the country by quelea birds, locusts, grasshoppers and other pests to destroy farm produce.

Another section of stakeholders believed that increase in prices of petrol and diesel by the Federal Government caused the increase price of maize and its eventual scarcity, since it now costs more to transport the produce from the farm to the market.

The bad news, however, is that the current predicament may result in, at least, two years of scarcity and high price of the produce, if the analysis by experts is anything to go by.

Among current issues facing the maize industry are forex, fertilisers, disease outbreak, as well as lack of structured policies that protect the farmers from third parties, climate change, poor research funding, poor and possible lack of government support and lack of access to funding, stakeholders in the sector said.

With these challenges, maize and other commodity prices in Nigeria are expected to soar, as short-term solutions to these problems could take up to two years to take effect, major farmers in the country said in the course of a week-long consultation with them.

The current maize crisis has invariably pushed up prices in the market, forcing other commodity products and dependent sectors on maize to push their prices.

National General Secretary, Federation of Agricultural Commodity Associations of Nigeria (FACAN), Dr Bello Dogondaji, in an interview with the Nigerian Tribune, said solution to current challenges responsible for maize crisis may run between 18 months and two years before taking effect, adding that until then, the crisis would linger for a while longer.

He, however, assured that the stakeholders in the industry were working “very hard” to solve the problem.

“I can assure you that by next year, the bumper harvest not recorded this year will be recorded,” he assured.

Also, an agricultural economist, Mr Adeyemi Osanyinlusi, told the Nigerian Tribune that at present, the produce (maize) is getting out of reach, adding that the development had put the future of the business at risk.

According to him, the most traumatising experience is the fact that the price of the produce has remained high at a time it should be experiencing free fall.

The agricultural economist emphasised that the maize specie from the northern part of the country is rich in protein, adding that farmers use the ingredient to boost animal protein.

He, however, lamented that its channel had changed from its original route of North to South axis, as farmers in the North, especially around Tagika, Mokwa and Gombe, now preferred to sell the produce to the international market route, which traverses African countries of Cameroon, Chad and Benin Republic.

The development, he said, had really affected the supply chain down the South.

A farmer in Iseyin, Oyo State, Miftah Adediran, who has 18,000 hectares of maize and cassava farms, speaking with the Nigerian Tribune in a telephone conversation on Tuesday, said forex, alongside stem borer and worm infestation are responsible for the current maize situation in the country.

“Most industries that rely so much on importation now have been forced to turn inward to look for import substitution, mostly maize. Hence the competition for the small available quantities of maize.

“Maize is now being struggled for by feedmillers and breweries as substitute for imported corn starch. Most of these industries are unable to access forex, so they turn to what they can get locally,” he said.

“We learnt that the northern farmers now choose to sell the produce to the foreign land with an assurance of more profit than bringing it down to southern market. For instance, they sell a kilogramme of maize to farmers between N125 and N130, but sell in Cameroon, Cotonou, Chad and the rest at between N250 and N300, with the same risk and distance from Kaduna and Gombe,” one of the stakeholders lamented.

A survey through major maize markets in the country revealed that the produce had become inaccessible and expensive where it is available.

From the South to the North, East to the West, Nigerians lamented the hike in the price of the produce, which, they believed, should be an alternative food to rice, which had also become expensive to purchase.

Mrs Elizabeth Eze in Lafia, Nasarawa State, said formerly a bag of maize sold for N5,000 and a measure for N120, adding that now, a bag sells for about N15,000 and a measure, about N250.

At one of the popular bulk foodstuffs markets in Ilorin metropolis, Oja Ita Amo, in Ilorin West Local Government Area of Kwara State, a bag of maize is sold for N13,500 or N14,000 as against N5,000 sold two years ago.

Findings in Lokoja, the Kogi State capital, showed that a bag of maize that used to sell for N7,500 is now being sold for N11,000.

Nigerian Tribune also learnt that a bag of maize was sold for N16,000 few months ago, as it was gathered that new stocks forced the price downward recently.

The commodity is commonly produced in the Kwara North senatorial district of the state and in such places as Baruten and Kaiama local government areas.

While it was gathered that a bowl of maize sold for N150 in the market, traders in neighbourhood markets sold a bowl of maize for N250.

In Oyo State, the high cost of maize in the markets is unprecedented.

At some markets, maize was being sold for N280 per measure as against N140 it was sold last year.

“As at end of March 2015, a measure of maize is being sold for N140. Later it rose to N180, until the new maize came, when ordinarily the price was supposed to fall. Surprisingly, the price rose from N180 to N280,” a trader, Alhaji Lukman Okunade, said.

At Oja’ba Market, a measure of white maize sold for N280, while that of yellow maize, popularly known as “solo” sold for N300.

At Bodija Market, the prices varied, because of the difference in measurement. A measure of white maize sold for N200.

Maize prices increased mid-October 2015 between N45,000 and N50,000 per metric tonnes (MT) until early January, selling at N65,000.

Currently, however, a 100kg bag of maize, which sold for N6,000 in April 2016, now sells for more than N20,000,  Miftah Adediran, a farmer in Iseyin said, worrying that if the trend continues, it could go for as high as N40,000 by mid-2017.

In Zaria and Saminaka local government areas of Kaduna State, a bag was sold for N9,000 as against N6,000 last year, while a bag sold for N10,00 at Sheikh Mahmud Gummi Market as against N8,000 last year.

Findings also revealed that some merchandise companies sold bag of maize at N12,000.

However, maize farmers had a bumper harvest in Kaduna, as a result of series of intervention from the state government and development partners.

Findings by the Nigerian Tribune revealed that apart from the intervention, the availability of fertiliser contributed immensely to the bumper harvest.

A farmer, who gave his name as Malam Yahuza Ibrahim, revealed that he was happy he was able to harvest 100 bags of maize this year.

According to him, apart from some bags of fertiliser that he got from a government agency at a subsidised rate of N4,000 per bag, what he used in the farm was natural manure.

With the current realities, a major maize farmer in Niger State, Alhaji Aliyu Mu’azu, said definitely, there would be a sharp decline in eggs production in the country soon.

This, he said, was because poultry farmers depend on maize to feed their chickens.

A source also said the country had also run low in the national grain reserves, a reason he said the country could not afford more than 10,000 tonnes of grain to be distributed to internally displaced persons (IDP) camps.

A researcher and lecturer at the Department of Crop Science and Horticulture, Federal University, Oye Ekiti, said one of the factors responsible for the maize crisis and other potential food crisis is climate change.

This, according to her, is a major challenge that the “government must begin to take seriously.”

She also attributed lack of government support, low youth participation in agriculture, lack of support – financial and material – for smallholder farmers as a reason for potential food crisis in Nigeria.

Osanyinlusi, speaking on what to do to ameliorate the plight of farmers in the country, said the government must act fast and save the people from imminent hunger.

“Recently, farmers from Lagos State, Ogbomoso and Ilorin struggled to get maize produce in Ilorin. They all managed to share just one trailer.

“As at present, the southern part of the country is experiencing scarcity of maize. From Kila area in Abeokuta to Ilorin in Kwara State, the story is the same,

“For the Christmas season, broilers cannot be put for sale at less than N3,000 or N4,000 because the price of feed which was at N3,300 around June/July has now increased.

“There are silos on Ilorin/Jebba road built by Chief Obafemi Awolowo. I learnt the silos were meant to feed the entire country, but today they have been outgrown by weeds,” Osanyinlusi stated.

Another feedmiller from Ilorin, Saimo Leah, cautioned farmers against hoarding of the produce, saying most farmers at Lafiagi, Gugu and other axis were rushing to get the produce and preserve it for a later date.

Also speaking, national chairman of the National Association of Grains Storage Practitioners of Nigeria, Chief Eric Ozongwu, on Wednesday, said the scarcity of maize in the market will persist if the right policies are not put in place by the government.

Chief Ozongwu also said the poor state of the country’s storage facilities had forced farmers in the North to sell off their grains to neighbouring countries.

Speaking with the Nigerian Tribune through a telephone interview, Chief Ozongwu said “the problem we have with maize comes from the fact that the demand is higher than the supply.

“Nigeria is the major producer of maize in Africa and our savanna is where we have most of the maize, in the south east and south south.

“Another thing that is affecting the production of maize this year is that is the discontinuity of policy that provides fertiliser directly to farmers.

“The major problem farmers have in the North is fertiliser, if you give a farmer two or three bags of fertilisers, be rest assured they will deliver. For sorghum and millet, you can farm them without fertiliser, but as far as maize is concerned, even if you till the whole land and plant it, it will not yield well without fertiliser.

“Farmers didn’t get enough fertiliser and coupled with the fact that the cost skyrocketed. The fertiliser that was sold for N5,000 two years ago, is now sold for N9,000 and a lot of peasant farmers cannot afford it.”

Also speaking, the expert said activities of insurgents in the North-East also affected the production of maize in the country, as most of the farmers had abandoned their farms for IDP camps.

He also attributed the cause to decrease in rain volume in North and Central Africa, adding that because of the development, they had to come down to Nigeria for maize, since they could not successfully plant maize in the last wet season.

“Everyday, we have about 500 trucks of grains leaving Nigeria and out of that 500 trucks, 300 trucks is loaded with maize.

“So, we lose about 500 trucks of grains everyday, they buy these grains from intermediaries in the market in the North.

“The fact remains that because maize is not enough, they now come and buy from Katsina, even some areas in Adamawa, they carry their money to the market to buy these grains.

“Another reason why they buy off these grains is that Naira have been devalued, so when they are coming with their CFA or dollars, they can now buy more bags of maize more than they were buying before,” he said.

He also lamented the deplorable condition of silos in the country, adding that some silos were still under construction while some others had been abandoned, with many others empty without grain.

Corroborating this in an interview on Wednesday, the national coordinator, Zero Hunger Commodities Association, Dr Tunde Arosanyin, noted that maize scarcity during harvest was strange.

He, however, said one of the major factors that led to hike in price of maize was the stoppage of the Growth Enhancement Scheme (GES) in the last two years.

He said the programme was stopped in 2014 with no intervention programme from government, adding that farmers had been supported through GES.

Another factor, according to Arosanyin, was the high exchange rate, which had affected the prices of inputs, fertiliser and herbicides.

He explained in the GES, fertiliser was sold to farmers at N3,000 but now being sold for N10,000, while herbicides that was sold for N800 is now N1600.

He also listed attack by worms and caterpillar on farms in Benue, Kogi, Niger and Kwara states as another factor.