Prices of foodstuff rise in Taraba

Prices of foodstuff have gone up in Taraba State, findings by Daily Trust have revealed.

It was observed that there has been an increase in the prices of foodstuff on a weekly basis across the state.

A 100kg bag of maize now costs N12,000 while that of paddy rice is sold between N12,000 and N14,000. But two weeks ago, the same bags of maize and paddy rice were sold at N7,000 and N9,000 respectively. Prices of other farm produce were also high.

Also affected by the increase are beans, soybeans, yam, millet and guinea corn.

In most of the grain markets visited in the state, hundreds of trucks were seen loaded with farm produce and going to different destinations.

Marketers who spoke to Daily Trust on Sunday blamed the situation to two factors. Mallam Suleiman Dauda told our correspondent that the rains suddenly stopped in most parts of the state, resulting in poor harvest of maize, beans and rice.

Dauda said middlemen from different parts of the country came into the state and made bulk purchases of farm produce, which resulted in the increase in prices of the commodities.

According to him, increase in prices of farm produce occurred only from January in previous years, but the trend has changed.

He said this development could lead to food insecurity in the state, and advised for aggressive rice and maize production this dry season, through irrigation farming.