Cost of healthy food rises by 32% in five months

Nigerians face acute malnutrition as the average cost of purchasing healthy food daily increased by 32 per cent in the five months, rising to N1,041 in May 2024 from N786 in December 2023.

The South-East for the first time in the past three months overtook the South-West as the most expensive zone in terms of the cost of a healthy diet as it costs N1,189 to feed an adult per day in the zone in May 2024.

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The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), disclosed this in its latest Cost of a Healthy Diet (CoHD) report for May 2024.

The CoHD is the least expensive combination of locally available items that meet globally consistent food-based dietary guidelines. It is used as a measure of physical and economic access to healthy diets. This is a lower bound (or floor) of the cost per adult per day excluding the cost of transportation and meal preparation.

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On a month-on-month basis, the report said that the cost of a healthy diet increased marginally by one per cent in May 2024, compared to the N1,035 recorded in April.

On a state-by-state analysis, the report noted that Ebonyi, Abia, and Anambra recorded the highest CoHD at N1,225, N1,215, and N1,205, respectively.

The NBS said Kano recorded the lowest CoHD at N898, followed by Jigawa at N899, and Yobe and Katsina at N906.

Conversely, the lowest average CoHD was recorded in the North-West at N919 per adult per day.

The NBS said CoHD had steadily increased since the first CoHD report by the Bureau in October 2023.

“In recent months, the CoHD has risen faster than general inflation and food inflation,” the report said, adding that the food groups that have driven the increases in CoHD the most are starchy staples, legumes, nuts and seeds, and animal source foods.

The report also shows that vegetables and fruits recorded the lowest increase in price on a month-on-month basis.

The development comes as food inflation increased for the 17th time to 40.66 per cent in May 2024.

Nigeria is facing the twin challenges of serious security and high cost of transportation which has made it difficult for farmers to go to their farms, or transport the few available food to the market, thus resulting in the high cost of food in the market.