Prices of paddy are beginning to come down in many grain markets in the country as the dry season harvest begins, a Daily Trust survey…
Prices of paddy are beginning to come down in many grain markets in the country as the dry season harvest begins, a Daily Trust survey has shown.
Paddy is rice in its husk before threshing, and is the major ingredient required by millers to produce the finished product for consumption.
In the last three years, a bag of paddy was sold at between N9,000 and N20,000 for 100kg, depending on the variety and quality. However, between the last quarter of 2023 and this year, it reached between N55,000 and N70,000, depending on the location.
Besides other factors like price of diesel and cost of transportation, the high cost of paddy was linked directly to high cost of rice, which rose to N80,000 for 50kg in certain locations across the country.
But investigations by our correspondents have shown that with the ongoing harvest and the relative appreciation of the value of the naira, prices of paddy are on a downward trajectory.
Our correspondent in Kebbi State reports that the price of paddy has dropped significantly in most of the areas where rice is cultivated.
Few months back, 100kg of the produce across various rice markets in the state was sold for between N50,000 and N55,000.
But at Aljanari and Suru, the hub of rice production in the state, paddy is currently being sold for between N43,000 and N45,000, respectively.
It is also being sold at between N42,000 and N45,000 in the Dakingari area of the state, as against N50,000 and N56,000 before now.
A trader at the Ambursa rice market, Abubakar Sa’adu, told Daily Trust that they are currently witnessing a drop in the price of paddy at various markets in the state.
“Depending on the quality, it is even being sold at N37,000 in some places,” he said.
Another rice trader at the popular Kamba Rice Market, Suleiman Gado, said it was being speculated that the price of paddy would still drop in the next few months.
“If the Niger Republic border is opened fully for traders to bring in their paddy, this would further crash the paddy price. The price has been dropping almost every week in the last one month now,” he said.
In Birnin Kebbi, Argungu and Augie areas of the state, paddy has also witnessed a drop in price.
A farmer at the Duku Rice Farm in Birnin Kebbi, Aliyu Zauro, said the dry season harvest was responsible.
In Niger State, our correspondent reports that the price has also come down in the past few weeks.
Farmers and dealers who spoke said the price now ranges from between N39,000 and N42,000 for a 100kg bag of paddy.
