Traders in Onitsha commercial centre of Anambra State have blamed the high cost of food items in the country on the insecurity bedeviling the nation.
They made the revelation through their leaders when officials of the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC) visited Ose Okwudo foodstuffs market in Onitsha North local government council to find out reasons for the galloping increase in the cost of food items.
The Chairman of Ose Okwudo, Chief Ikechukwu Umuanozie, represented by the Market Secretary, Onyejikwe Cyprian, stated that if the issue of insecurity and cost of transportation are tackled, the prices of food would reduce.
Attributing it to insecurity, the market leader said that farmers now fear going to their farms to cultivate crops, adding that even when they take the risk to go, they are either abducted when moving crops to urban places to sell, or when coming back.
He said: “These days, traders now go to rural places because farmers who manage to harvest crops, fear to transport them by road because of kidnapping.
“Now it is the traders that are suffering because we go to them. Most consumables in Nigeria come down here to this market which serves as a distribution point.
“We receive supplies from all over the country, three times every week. Yams from Benue, grains from Niger, Adamawa and other states, potatoes from diverse places, fish from parts of Anambra here, but today, how many times do supplies come?
“Sometimes, farmers call traders on the phone and tell them that there may not be supplies in the near future – that bandits were terrorizing them. In that way, the trader who knows he will not get stock for sometime will hike the price of the available ones.
“If government can do something about insecurity, I am sure farmers will return to their farms and traders will not be afraid to transport their goods back for sale.”
He told the South East zonal coordinator of FCCPC, Jude Akonam, that besides insecurity, climate change and cost of transportation were other factors.
Earlier, Akonam said the reason for the visit was to hear from traders and customers how the rise in prices affect them, with a view to relaying the message to the appropriate quarters for action.
According to him, after the findings, the commission would advise the government appropriately on how to check the menace of increase in food stuff.
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