The prices of spices have skyrocketed, taking the items out of the reach of many Nigerians.
The spices include ginger, turmeric, chili pepper and garlic, cloves, among others.
Ginger, turmeric and garlic are not produced or grown in Kano, but are highly consumed in the state. These spices are widely used in modern dishes/diets.
Sources within the business revealed that the value of spices began appreciating during the COVID-19 era when a lot of people got to know about the medicinal and nutritional values of most of them.
Malam Kasimu Jafaru is a businessman who deals in spices at Yankaba vegetable market in Kano, and according to him, apart from increase in demand due to its unavailability in the state because farmers do not grow it much, spices have been discovered to have important medicinal values.
He explained that many people currently use these spices to treat ailments, just as many traditional medicine practitioners use them in the production of medicines.
“It was reported that turmeric, cloves and ginger can suppress various inflammatory cases and as such, the traditional medicine practitioners have been using them to produce their medicines,” he revealed.
Another businessman who deals in spices, Bello Isah Bango, said, “People consumed lots of ginger and other spices during the COVID pandemic to boost their immune system and based on the result they got, they made it a habit thereafter, hence the rise in the demand of the spices”.
Despite the fact that Nigeria happens to be the fourth largest grower of ginger with national output put at 31,000 metric tons per annum by the Federal Ministry of Agriculture, Kano State produces very little or nothing.
Isah Bello Mai Citta, who has been farming ginger for over two decades, said ginger is gradually becoming gold, as only a few people can afford it. According to him, a bag of ginger that sold for less than N50,000 a few years ago now sells for N265,000, while a measure (mudu) sold for less than N1,000 is now N11,000.
Mai Citta further revealed that the hike in prices of the spices has forced a lot of people out of the business due to lack of capital. He added that a bag of cloves which sold for less than N150,000 a few years ago, now sells for over N600,000, which he said is virtually out of the reach of many traders like him.
“I have spent over 20 years in this business, but the prices of these spices have never gotten to this level. Believe me, anyone you see doing this business now is indeed a hero worth celebrating and he has good capital. Imagine one commodity consuming the whole of the capital you were using to buy many other spices; this is really disturbing. We were told that exportation of the commodity to Europe and Asia is behind the hike,” he said.
When contacted, the Chairman, Kano State chapter of All Farmers Association of Nigeria (AFAN) Abulrasheed Rimingado, revealed that the reason behind the high cost of the spices is because cloves are imported, as Nigerians don’t produce it.
According to him, the Naira devaluation and the nation’s forex policy affected the cost of the commodity.
The chairman also revealed that on the issue of ginger, the states that produce the crop experienced serious pest attack in the last planting season and as such, it didn’t do well, leading to scarcity.
“People think we produce cloves here in Nigeria in high quantity not knowing that the cloves you see in the market are imported. Moreover, we are aware that the Nigerian currency has been devalued and the exchange rate is very high. As such, cost of importation has increased, thereby, affecting the price of cloves. Unfortunately, ginger producing states faced serious pest attack and their ginger didn’t do well, that is why the price of ginger reached a level it has never reached in the history of this country,” he said.
Sources close to AFAN revealed that an attempt is currently being made towards the production of cloves within the country.
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