Panic as agro firms mop up soybeans in Kano markets

Despite the bumper harvest of soybeans during the 2023 rainy season farming in Kano and other soybean production states, the produce may still be scarce in the markets this year. Some soybean users who are raising the concerns are attributing the situation to what they term a massive evaluation of Nigerian-grown soybeans for export, which they said may spell doom to the country’s food security.

Findings by Daily Trust on Sunday revealed that several merchants have stormed agro commodity markets in the state, mopping up soybeans for foreign firms that export them.

A source at the Dawanau International Grain Market told our correspondent that soybeans has now become a hot commodity sort by many companies, adding that due to the mad rush for the commodity, its price has gone up despite all evidence that there has been a bumper harvest this year.

“Let me tell you, if you have bags of soybeans now you will be treated like a king. The commodity has become a hot cake now in this market and in other commodity markets across the country. This has resulted to a rise in the commodity price to an alarming level. It will surprise you to note that a 100kg of soybeans is now selling at N43,000, which is outrageous,” he said.

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The source added that the rate at which trucks of soybeans leave the market on a daily basis was so alarming that one would think that with time there won’t be a single gain of soybeans in the market.

It was also gathered that some indigenous oil millers have begun to complain that the existing competition in the market is becoming unbearable as not all of them can compete with the exporters’ merchants. Some of the millers revealed that a tonne of soybeans is now selling at over N400,000.

A Kano-based soybeans miller, Idris Nazir, an engineer, said this year’s market had opened with N330,000 price per tonne, but due to the high demand by the exporters, the price jacked up to N425,000 a tonne.  He explained that the development had forced many of them to back off and are considering other measures to survive the upsurge.

“This year’s soybeans market had opened on N330,000 per tonne, but as the demand by the exporters increases, the price went up to N425,000; and it is still going up. It is clear that not all oil millers can afford to continue in such a tight business environment. It is so scarring because cooking oil and other related products would soon be inaccessible to many people,” he said.

However, the chairman of the Kano State All Farmers Association of Nigeria (AFAN), Alhaji Abdulrasheed Magaji Rimin Gado, said the current development in soybeans production was attributed to the law of demand and supply. He said soybeans farmers recorded a bumper harvest this year and the demand had increased so much due to the activities of exporters.

He explained that since there was no law that prohibited the exportation of the commodity, the association could not do anything but advise farmers and the authorities concerned. He said the development was indeed a threat to Nigeria’s food security.

“The current economic situation in the country had forced farmers to part ways with their produce so early because they needed money. At the association level, what we advised the authorities to do was to revisit the warehouse system to assist farmers store their produce.

“There is also a need for the government to enact a law that would ban the exportation of certain crops, of which soybeans should be prioritised for the country to be able to have its home-grown food,” he suggested.

Gado also expressed the fear that the commodity would soon be scarce despite bumper harvest, and that the scarcity would also affect other products related to soybeans.