The price of ginger has increased six times in two years, rising from N50,000 a bag in 2023 to N300,000 in 2025.
Farmers note that the price increment was due to low supply created by the devastating effects of the 2023 ginger blight disease, which resulted in N12 billion losses for Nigerian farmers.
Ginger blight, or tuber rot disease, harms underground tubers, and makes the aboveground of the affected plant wither.
Joy Bauna, a ginger farmer from Jema’a Local Government Area of Kaduna State, spoke about the challenges she faced as a result of the disease affecting her produce
She lamented: “The disease spoilt our ginger as everything we had was rotten. I lost over N200,000. I could not replant in 2024 because I did not have any seedlings.
“Some of us did not get any government support, so we didn’t farm. If the price is over N300,000 per bag now, it will surely get worse, except the government is able to support all smallholder farmers with seedlings in the coming planting season.”
A Nassarawa-based farmer, Christian Daudu, also added: “I lost every crop I planted to the disease. So many of us lost everything and we may not be able to plant in the next planting season.”
Aliyu Sabi Abdullahi, minister of state, Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security, stated that Nigeria’s ginger farmers incurred losses amounting to N12 billion due to the blight epidemic that decimated their crops in 2023.
He said: “Ginger farmers in Kaduna suffered immensely from the outbreak of the ginger blight disease, losing over 90 percent of their total harvest for the season.
“Only a few of those ginger farmers who took our insurance protection received monetary compensation for their harvest losses,” he said.
Nigeria is among the world largest producers of ginger, according to the Food and Agricultural Organization (FOA).
The Nigerian Export Promotion Council (NEPC) stated that the nation produces about 523,000 metric tonnes yearly and has 14 percent share in global production.
Source: www.mynigeria.com
