CADEF: Cartels, Insecurity, Others Behind Rising Cost of Food Items, Expert Reveals
- The trade and agriculture ministries have been urged to tackle imbalances in the value chain and promote fairness in the nation's practices
- This plea also emphasises the need for cooperation among various stakeholders, urging entities to take action against anti-competitive behaviours
- Discussions are underway regarding cartels believed to be behind unjust pricing of vital food products in Nigerian markets
Legit.ng journalist Segun Adeyemi has over 9 years of experience covering political events, civil societies, courts, and metro
FCT, Abuja - The Consumer Advocacy and Empowerment Foundation (CADEF) has pinpointed vital factors causing the rising hike in food prices and is calling on the government to act.
Professor Chiso Ndukwe Okafor, CADEF's Executive Director, highlighted this during a press briefing following discussions with the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC) and stakeholders such as farmers and advocacy groups.
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The aim was to find solutions to the obstacles hindering fair pricing in the market.
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She mentioned that in collaboration with Consumer International, they initiated data gathering across six states to understand the primary reasons behind elevated food prices.
Additionally, she pointed out that the issue of unjust food pricing, especially in Africa, has resulted in considerable difficulties for consumers, with over 90 per cent of the population unable to afford a nutritious diet.
Cartels as a major issue in food prices
During the roundtable conversations with journalists, she recounted that there are conversations around cartels responsible for instigating unfair pricing of essential food items in Nigerian marketplaces.
Prof Okafor, who spoke to Legit.ng exclusively after the roundtable discussion, said:
"They are cartels. This is from conversations on the ground."
Data gathering for food prices
She further noted that their data gathering and survey does not revolve around them (the cartels) but around unfair food pricing.
Prof. Okafor noted that the survey was conducted in six states across all the geopolitical zones.
She said:
"We could not cover the 36 states and chose six states within the different geopolitical zones.
"We sent out numerators on the ground to visit the value chain, from farm gate to wholesalers to the retail sectors. They took pictures and entered the data in collaboration with Consumer International.
"Using their food price index, we uploaded the data daily to the site and then generated these data as well."
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Source: Legit.ng
