Yemi Obafemi
The Cowpea Farmers Association of Nigeria (CFAN) has revealed that the high cost of beans was as a result of the drop in beans production last year and the high cost of agricultural inputs.
The Kano State deputy chairman of CFAN, Malam Sale Maigari Tunfafi, revealed this saying beans, being one of the last farm produces harvested every year was affected by herders’ invasion of farmlands as the dry season set which resulted in serious damages to beans farms.
According to him, the high cost of agricultural inputs is another barrier that forced many beans farmers to reduce the size of their farms.
He further revealed that the issue of beans exportation by merchants to neigbouring countries.
“We have learnt that with the nation’s devaluation of its currency, many merchants found opportunities to export our agricultural commodities outside the country for foreign exchange. Initially, neigbouring countries did complement the nation’s beans demand because merchants did import beans to Nigeria, but with the naira devaluation, they found out that it was more rewarding to export instead of importing and this contributed to the rise in price as the demand increased heavily,” he revealed.
“We are currently holding a series of meetings with stakeholders in beans production along its value chain with the intent of arriving at a lasting solution to this alarming problem. It will interest you to note that, already our move has begun to yield positive results as the price of beans has started to drop,” he said.
Tunfafi, however, said that with the association’s move the price had started dropping.
According to reports, the price of beans has reached over N200, 000 per 100kg bag, the highest reached in over four decades.
