President’s Push to Crash Food Prices: A Looming Threat to Northern Farmers

🖊️ Muhammad Isah Ramat

Introduction

The Nigerian president’s recent directive to crash food prices across the country has sparked widespread debate. While the move aims to reduce the burden of high living costs on ordinary citizens, many analysts warn that the policy could backfire, especially in the northern region, which produces the bulk of Nigeria’s food supply.

Northern Nigeria: The Food Basket Under Siege

The northern region accounts for nearly 90% of the food consumed in Nigeria. Despite this, it faces persistent challenges: insecurity from banditry and insurgency, widespread unemployment, and crippling poverty. Thousands of farmers have been displaced from their farmlands, and agricultural output has already declined.

Against this backdrop, the president’s plan to force a reduction in food prices may have unintended and damaging consequences.

Negative Impacts on Farmers

1. Loss of Income 

Lower food prices mean farmers will earn far less for their produce. Small-scale farmers, who already survive on narrow profit margins, risk falling deeper into poverty.

2. Decline in Production 

With lower incentives, many farmers may abandon agriculture entirely, further reducing the country’s food output.

3. Unmet Production Costs 

Rising costs of fertilizer, seeds, and transportation make farming expensive. Reduced prices will leave farmers unable to break even.

4. Food Shortages Ahead 

If farmers cut back on production, the policy could lead to shortages, hoarding, and black-market trading, worsening food insecurity nationwide.

Socioeconomic Consequences for the North

Beyond the farms, the policy could worsen unemployment in rural communities, fuel migration to already overburdened cities, and intensify poverty levels. For a region already grappling with insecurity, these outcomes risk aggravating the instability that has stifled growth for years.

The Way Forward

Experts argue that rather than artificially forcing food prices down, the government should prioritize:

1. Security in farming areas and restoring safety for farmers to return to their fields.

2. Subsidies and Incentive, providing fertilizer, improved seeds, and farm inputs at affordable rates.

3. Mechanization and infrastructure – ensuring better storage, transport, and distribution networks to reduce waste and stabilize prices naturally.

Conclusion

The president’s intention to ease the burden of high food prices is commendable. However, without tackling the root causes of poverty, unemployment, and insecurity — especially in the north — the policy risks worsening the plight of farmers and destabilizing the nation’s food system.

Editor: Muhammad Isah Ramat

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