Local bread bakers also known as Gurasa in Kano state, North West Nigeria, have lamented the high cost of Flour used in baking the popular delicacy.
The bakers on Friday, staged a peaceful protest in the ancient city of Kano, over hike in prices of the commodity which they say is threatening to force them out of business.
The bakers said they buy a bag of flour N16,000 in the past but now sold for N41,000 which they can’t afford.
Data released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) in November 2023 showed that inflation rate, which was largely driven by food prices, quickened in October for the 10th consecutive month.
High Costs: Nigerian Bakers Suspend Bread Production
It rose to 27.33 percent from 26.72 percent in the previous month, according to the Consumer Price Index (CPI), which measures changes in prices of goods and services.
The CPI report showed that food and non-alcoholic beverages contributed the most (14.16 percent) to the increase in the headline inflation.
Food inflation rose to 31.52 percent in October from 30.64 percent in the previous month.
Leading the protest, the Chairperson of the association, Fatima Awuwal called on the Nigerian Government to as a matter of urgency, look into the incessant increment of prices of the commodity as it is threatening to send them out of business.
In her words: “We are out here on the streets protesting to let the leaders know the economic hardship which we are facing at the moment.
“This is our small scale business facing deterioration due to rise in price of flour, it is a business that empowers the poor.
“We are in a very difficult situation, we need help. This is a small scale industry mostly run by women.
“Many have lost their capital. It is such that only 25 percent of us are now remaining in the business as many others have closed down due to lack of capital.
“We used to buy a bag of floor at the rate of N16,000 in the past but now it sells for N43,000. This is absurd. What we produce is a common food for the poor and is now becoming unaffordable. Any time we go to buy flour we get an increase of N1,500 to N2,000.
“We are calling on the authorities and those concerned to look into this matter because we are running out of business and is affecting our families. Majority of us are widows. This is what we do to cater for our families. Life is becoming more difficult, we can hardly feed or send our children to school due to this hardship.
“…There’s the need for governments at all levels, talk about the federal government and even councillors to wade into this high price of flour by engaging those companies producing flour on the need to bring the price down.
“We call on government to find positive ways to assist those Flour companies, to source for foreign exchange, so that the cost of production would be favourable to them,” Auwal said.
Gurasa is a local bread, produced with the use of flour, yeast, sugar and water.
The production of Gurasa, a popular affordable local staple in Kano, has served as a source of employment to many as it is sold at almost every nooks and crannies such as market places, motor parks and road sides.
The protesters were seen carrying placards with inscriptions such as, “inflation is too high in the country,” “We are not in support of the hike of flour price,” “FG must act now, we are tired of increment of flour price,” “Look into flour prices hike,” “The flour price hike is threatening to force us out of business”, and “Gurasa is the only staple for the poor,” among others.
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