Vegetables and other perishable produce can be obtained at a cheaper price from Kano markets thanks to a market glut caused by increased fresh supplies from farms.
Checks carried out by the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) at Kofar Wambai and Rimi markets, in Kano metropolis, on Sunday revealed that perishable produce, such as onions, tomato and pepper had dropped by over 200 per cent.
A measure of onions was sold at N100, as against its previous price of N250, tomato now costs N100 and pepper N150 as against N400 and N600 respectively.
Commenting on the development, a trader Sabiu Ismaila said the market was flooded with the produce, due to the bumper harvest recorded by farmers this dry season.
Another trader Malam Ibrahim
Danborno, attributed the drop in prices to the improvement in the supply of the produce from farms to markets in the area, adding that the prices may still drop as the produce were still being brought out of farms.
On his part, Abubakar Danladi, a tomato grower, said that farmers were forced to sell the produce at harvest to avoid losses, which has been one of their major challenges, due to the lack of modern preservation techniques.
”Tomato and other perishable produce cannot be preserved under harsh weather condition, hence the drop in prices.
“Lack of modern preservation technologies is making perishable items farming less attractive,” he said.
Meanwhile some residents of the state Amina Ibrahim and Bello Ahmed have expressed delight over the development, hoping that prices would further go down in view of the high yields recorded by farmers.
“We are happy that prices of the perishable items have crashed in the market and hope that grain prices will also crash,” they said.
