Prices of grains and some agricultural commodities in Cham, Gombe State, have fallen as a result of shortage of naira notes.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that traders at a grains Market in Cham, Balanga Local Government Area, Gombe State, on Wednesday, expressed mixed reactions on the shortage of the new naira notes.
Mr Muhammadu Garba, chairman, Cham grains Market, confirmed that the prices of grains had been slashed as a result of the CBN policy, with prices of most commodities dropping by more than N10, 000 per bag.
Garba said the situation had affected businesses as customers in spite of the drop in price had not been patronising them.
“This means that many of us will return home with our goods because we didn’t get to sell them.
“It is painful to see things turn out this way. I am not a happy man today because we have suffered serious losses,” he said.
The chairman said many of the farmers who brought in their goods from various villages could not sell them because they didn’t have bank accounts for transfer in the face of shortage of new naira notes.
For Bala Abubakar, grains dealer at Cham Market, the drop in prices of grains was cause for concern for him and his colleagues.
Abubakar said he had never experienced such a situation in his 15 years of trading where prices of commodities would dropped drastically within 14 days.
Mr Usman Babayo, a buyer, told NAN that he was excited coming to the market to see how things had turned out, “in fact I chose who to buy my goods from today.”
Babayo said two weeks back, he bought a bag of maize from the market for N22,000 after serious bargaining but, “today, they are now the ones begging me to buy same bag for N12, 000.
“So, thank God for the situation. I am happy because prices have dropped and my N12, 000 that could only buy half bag, now has value for a bag,” he said.
For excited Mr Ibrahim Yusuf, the two guinea fowls he bought at the market for N7,200 two weeks ago were sold to him for N4, 400.
Yusuf said: “I like this policy, it has really brought relief to me, especially today. In fact God bless President Muhammadu Buhari for this.”
NAN reports that the price of a bag of maize which was sold for N22, 000 two weeks ago at the market is now sold for N12,000, representing 45.5 per cent drop in price.
While a bag of soya beans, which was sold for N30, 000 now goes for between N18, 000, representing 40 per cent decrease in price.
For a bag of beans, which was sold for between N35, 000 and N40, 000 is now sold for between N25, 000 and N27, 000, depending on quality, representing between 28.6 and 32.5 per cent decrease.
A bag of paddy rice, which was sold for N23, 000 is now N17, 000 representing 26 per cent drop in price.
For sorghum, which was sold for N22, 000 two weeks ago at the same market, now goes for N15, 000, representing 31.8 per cent drop in price.(NAN)
