Prices of garri and rice surge over 50% in Enugu State

Trader stated that the high cost of rice in the country would persist if the government failed to act urgently to address food insecurity.

The price of cassava flakes, popularly known as garri and rice has recorded a more than 50% increase in the Enugu metropolis, the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports.

The NAN Correspondent, who conducted a market survey on Thursday in Enugu, observed that prices of foodstuffs such as garri and rice have increased by 50% in the metropolis.

The survey showed that a cup of garri, which sold for ₦150 in April, now goes for ₦250 while a five-litre paint bucket is sold for between ₦4,000 and ₦4,300.

Similarly, the current price of a bag of garri is sold for ₦45,000 as against ₦30,000 in April. At the Garki Market, Enugu, the price of a 50-kg bag of foreign rice rose from between ₦70,000 and ₦75,000 to between ₦95,000 and ₦100,000, depending on the brand.

NAN reports that a 50kg bag of local rice is sold for between ₦80,000 to ₦85,000 depending on the brand. Gladis Ugwu, a garri seller at the New Market, said that the only way to reduce the high cost of garri would be by securing farmlands and stopping the exportation of the produce to other countries.

Ugwu said the exportation of the commodity had affected the availability of the produce in the country. Arinze Ozor, a rice seller at Ogbere Main Market, said that the high cost of rice in the country would persist if the government failed to act urgently to address food insecurity.

Ozor said that the traffic of buyers of foodstuffs in his shop had reduced since the prices of every item increased. A buyer, who spoke on condition of anonymity, attributed the high cost of living in the country to subsidy removal from petroleum products.