The Bank of Industry (BoI) has announced the launching of a mobile application to monitor real-time food prices in eight (8) states across the nation.
BoI announced on Thursday that the web version of the app, Pricesense.ng helps users check the wholesale and retail prices of food items such as rice, beans, tomato, maize, and others in different states nationwide.
The states available on the application are Borno, Plateau, Rivers, Oyo, FCT, Lagos, Enugu, and Kano.
The app also provides analytics of food prices across brand type, quantity, and at different dates of the year.
BoI said the effort followed continued rising food prices in the past year with food inflation crossing 40% in June 2024.
The current food crisis in the country has been attributed to a combination of irregular weather patterns, instability in food-producing regions, and the high cost of agricultural inputs like fertilizers.
Various international development organisation like the World Bank, International Rescue Committee (IRC), and the Food and Agricultural Organisation (FA0) predicted a record number of food-insecure people in the country for 2024.
The World Bank noted that around seven states in the country would witness severe hunger while the FAO noted that up to 32 million Nigerians in 2024 would be food insecure with women and children mostly affected.
Efforts by the federal government to quell the crisis include the approval of duty-free food imports for 150 days and the distribution of grains to all 36 states of the federation.
Furthermore, the federal government has also reportedly commenced the sale of rice at a discount price of N40,000 per 50kg bag.
