Cost of Preparing Jollof Rice Spikes 6.98% in Q2 2021

Jollof rice, one of Nigeria's most loved delicacies, has now become a pain point as families need to spend more than before to have it prepared.

According to the SBM Intelligence Jollof Index report for Q2 2021 released today, the average cost of making a pot of Jollof for the typical Nigerian household rose 6.9 percent quarter-on-quarter to ₦7,618 in June 2021 from  ₦7,124 in March.

SBM began tracking the Jollof rice index in 2016, and since that time, the cost of the esteemed delicacy has gone up by a staggering 100 percent.

In the second quarter of the year, the prices of major food items continued to rise rapidly on average. According to data from the National Bureau of Statistics, the gap between food and non-food inflation widened by 10.28% despite overall double-digit inflation.

Coupled with Nigeria's high unemployment rate, the surging food prices point to a growing misery index of Nigerians and the declining ability to purchase food. Rising insecurity has also punctured the country's agricultural sector in no small way as farmers are unable to go to work out of fear for their safety.

Other factors such as the land border closure policy by the government, as well as increased energy tariffs, have buoyed price increases in the short term.

Prior to the economy-crushing pandemic, about 40.1 percent of Nigerians lived below the poverty line. A recent world bank report showed that at least seven million Nigerians have joined the poverty league due to rising inflation.

In the 2020 Global Hunger Index (GHI), Nigeria ranked 98th out of the 107 countries, getting a GHI score of 29.2 out of a 100-point scale.