Why the prices of food items will continue to rise

Why the prices of food items will continue to rise

Apart from the insecurity that keeps farmers away from producing food, which creates scarcity, there are other factors contributing to food inflation that the government appears to have turned a blind eye to.

According to a director at Cutix Plc., Mrs. Ijeoma Ezeasor, apart from the pervasive issue of insecurity in Nigeria, food insecurity can be tackled with some changes in policies by the federal government.

She said the advent of Covid-19 created some problems relating to the supply chain that are still affecting manufacturers in Nigeria today. She noted that foreign exchange instability, especially at the ports, perpetrated by Nigeria Customs Service puts manufacturers in a bad position for competition.

Forex challenge
She stressed that the problem is dire for manufacturers, especially in the food industry. Ezeasor said there are some inputs in food manufacturing that are imported. The availability of forex affects the cost of those inputs and by extension, the cost of production and the final product. She stressed that the costs of all those imported inputs force manufacturers to pass the costs to final consumers.