According to the official data, the price of the basic food items that contain the minimum nutrients have risen by more than a hundred percent within a year, meaning that healthy foods are now unaffordable to many Nigerians.
The recent ‘Cost of Healthy Diet’ survey carried out by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), in collaboration with the Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition, has revealed that the price of a healthy diet increased by 110.7 percent to N1,035 per day in April 2024 compared to N491 per day in the same period of the previous year. The cost was also 5.4 percent higher than the previous month, which was N982 in March.
The CoHD metric measures the access, cost and nutritional density of foods at retail level to determine the least costly food combination that meets the dietary standards.
“CoHD has steadily increased since the first CoHD report by NBS (October 2023). The CoHD in April 2024 is 47 per cent higher than in October 2023 (N703) and five percent higher than CoHD in March 2024, which was N982,” the report stated.
It mentioned that the food groups that have contributed to the increase in CoHD the most are Vegetables, Starchy Staples, and Legumes Nuts, and Seeds.
“The cost of meeting the recommendations for Fruits has changed the least since March 2024.”
The NBS stated that the headline inflation rose consecutively for the 16th time to 33.69% in April from 33.20% in March based on the consumer price index.
Food inflation, which forms more than half of the headline inflation, also went up to 40.53 percent from 40.53 percent.
The CoHD report also indicated that Ekiti, Ogun, and Osun states’ costs were the highest with the total cost of N1,483, N1,447, and N1,417 respectively. Kogi and Katsina had the lowest costs at N709, while Kaduna and Nasarawa followed at N756 and N769 respectively.
“Lastly, at the Zonal level, the average CoHD was highest in the South West Zone at N1,406 per day, followed by the South East Zone with N1,190 per day. The lowest average Cost of a Healthy diet was recorded in the North West Zone with N781 per day,” it said.
It highlighted that animal-source foods were the most expensive food group recommendation to meet in April and represented 36 per cent of the total CoHD to provide 13 per cent of the total calories.
Finally, it revealed that fruits and vegetables remained the most costly food groups in terms of price per calorie and constituted 11 and 16 per cent, respectively, of the total CoHD but contributed only seven and five per cent of the total calories of the healthy diet basket. Legumes, Nuts, and Seeds were the cheapest food groups, accounting for 6 per cent of the total cost.
