The Bank of Industry (BOI) has launched a mobile app for Nigerians to check live food prices in the country.

The web version, Pricesense.ng helps users check the wholesale and retail prices of food items such as rice, beans, tomato, maize and others in different states across the country.

According to BOI, the states available for checking of the prices are Borno, Plateau, Rivers, Oyo, FCT, Lagos, Enugu and Kano.

It noted that the app provides for analytics of food prices across brand type, quantity and at different dates of the year.

One of the challenges currently assailing Nigerians is food.

However, prices of food vary from state to state. Hence, the decision of BOI to come up with the app so that Nigerians would be abreast of the current prices of food in states and take necessary steps that would better suit their conditions.

Aside from food insecurity, food prices have been on the rise since the inception of President Bola Tinubu’s administration.

As at June 2024, food inflation crossed 40 percent while many poor Nigerians languish in acute hunger.

There are many factors responsible for the food shortage and inflation of prices.

Some of them are lack of fertile policies by the Federal and State Governments, disruption in regular weather patterns, insecurity in food-producing regions and high cost of farm inputs such as fertilisers among others.

The Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC) had accused traders of price gouging leading to the high cost of staple foods in the country.

The FCCPC boss, Mr. Tunji Bello, stated that some traders forming cartels in markets across the country are responsible for the sharp rise in food prices.

While the commission acknowledged that factors like the exchange rate and the increase in petrol prices have made previous prices unsustainable, it criticized the disproportionate price hikes, which Mr. Bello attributed to cartels seeking to exploit consumers.

The commission this year had closed some supermarkets it accused of unethical market practices with respect to prices of goods. Furthermore, the commission had earlier ordered traders across the country to crash prices of goods and services within one month or face its actions.

Also, some notable traditional rulers in the country, especially in the South West, had accused some leaders of traders of forcing others to sell at fixed prices.

These monarchs including the Ooni of Ife, Oba Enitan Ogunwusi and late Owa Obokun of Ijesaland, Oba Gabriel Adekunle Aromolaran had banned market union associations in their domains from fixing prices of food items for traders and neither should they force them from joining associations.

However, some international development organisations like the World Bank, International Rescue Committee (IRC) and the Food and Agricultural Organisation (FA0) had predicted record number of food insecure people in the country for 2024.

In particular, the World Bank noted that around seven states in the country would witness severe hunger while the FAO noted that up to 32 million Nigerians in 2024 would be food insecure with women and children mostly affected.

Efforts by the federal government to quell the crisis include the approval of duty-free food imports for 150 days and distribution of grains to all 36 states of the federation.

Furthermore, the federal government has also begun the sale of rice at a discount price of N40,000 per 50kg bag.

The All Farmers Association of Nigeria (AFAN) has identified flooding, insecurity, low mechanization, and difficulty in accessing credit as some of the factors responsible for the country’s food shortage.

The farmers warned that Nigeria could face severe food shortages if the government fails to address these challenges.

This was disclosed in a statement by the National President of AFAN, Kabir Ibrahim, on Monday.

Ibrahim called on the Federal Government to intervene urgently to prevent the country from slipping into a worse situation.

He revealed that measures such as food importation, support for smallholder farmers, and the distribution of palliatives and agricultural inputs should be implemented.

He urged the government to adopt seamless agribusiness practices, particularly through the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA).

Ibrahim also encouraged the government to offer incentives and affordable credit to small and large-scale agribusiness farmers, noting that this would boost food production and distribution.

However, Ibrahim pointed out that palliatives and mass importation are only temporary measures.

He urged the government to consider long-term solutions, especially sustainable agribusiness practices that support smallholder farmers.

He said, “Various efforts such as the importation of some food items for a given period in defined quantities, support to smallholder farmers or small-scale producers, and distribution of palliatives and agricultural inputs are works in progress.

“These should be implemented transparently and dispassionately for them to impact the food system by immediately bringing down prices.

“The most probable respite can come by encouraging seamless agribusiness practices through AfCFTA and other available windows.

“The engine room of food production in Nigeria still revolves around the smallholder farmers, who should be encouraged to scale up by enabling them to get real value for their produce, among a myriad of other incentives.”