“We Have Started Already”: FG Moves To Bring Down Food Prices in 2024 as One Bag of Rice Hit N95k

• The federal government has expressed a commitment to tackle rising food prices across the country
• One of the measures the government plans to achieve this is to support farmers to increase the production of rice
• The latest data from the National Bureau of Statistics shows that food inflation is currently at its highest level in over 18 years

The federal government has commenced a massive production of food crops in its bid to bring down the prices of food items across the country.

This was disclosed by the Minister of Agriculture and Food Security, Abubakar Kyari, on Friday, January 5, 2023, in Jigawa state.

According to Kyari, food is one of the major concerns of the administration of President Bola Tinubu.

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His words

“We have programmes to ensure massive production of food so that food will be available for the country in line with Mr President’s agenda on food security.

"We also intend to massively produce so as to bring down food inflation.

“This is because today, the number one driver of inflation in the economy is food inflation. So we want to assiduously work hard to produce massively.

"Mr President has given us the support that we need and we are going to wrap it up, starting with rice production.”

Punch reports that the minister also provided a timeline for the initiative and commented on when Nigerians will begin to see a drop in food prices

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“We have started the programme already. Within the next three weeks, everything should be in place.”

Food prices in Nigeria

The National Bureau of Statistics released its 'November 2023 Consumer Price Index report in December 2023, indicating that Nigeria experienced a significant increase in food inflation, reaching 32.84%, the highest in over 18 years.

Speaking on whether the cost of food would reduce soon, based on the massive crop production programme of the government, Kyari added:

“It is based on the market forces of supply and demand. So if we increase supply, definitely there will be an impact.”

He stressed that the government was working to increase supply, as this would impact positively on the cost of food items across the country soon.

Meanwhile, a check shows that a bag of parboiled rice sells for as high as N95,000.

Marketers identify cabal behind the rising price of cooking gas in Nigeria

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Earlier Legit.ng reported that Cooking gas marketers under the Nigerian Association of Liquified Petroleum Gas Marketers (NALPGAM) accused the Liquified Petroleum Gas (LPG) terminal operators of causing the country's high cooking gas cost.

Oladapo Olatubosun, the association's president, disclosed this when they met the senate committee on gas in the company of the group members.

The commodity's price recently increased to N1,200 per kilogram, with many Nigerians lamenting its high cost amid surging Inflation and high living standards.

Source: Legit.ng