Rising prices of meat, fish and chicken are forcing some Lagos households to reduce consumption, change meal choices and seek cheaper protein alternatives.
Some consumers are relying more on eggs, reducing meat portions or preparing meals without meat. Traders attribute fluctuating prices to rising operating and supply costs.
Traders and consumers spoke in separate interviews with reporters at Oyingbo, Ijora Olopa, Ikotun and FESTAC markets on Sunday.
Mr Abubakar Sodiq, a mobile butcher, said beef prices had risen from N6,000 per kilogramme in August to N8,000.
Sodiq attributed the increase to rising fuel prices and the cost of buying cattle.
He said he bought portions of slaughtered cattle for resale rather than whole cows.
According to him, the cost of the portions had risen from about N60,000 last year to between N100,000 and N120,000, sometimes reaching N130,000.
Another butcher at Oyingbo Market, Mr Musa Danjuma, said a lap of meat now sold for between N30,000 and N45,000, depending on its size.
He said the same portion sold for about N25,000 in August, while a neck portion now cost N10,000.
Danjuma said he now needed between N120,000 and N150,000 to buy stock.
He described meat as scarce and expensive but said the price changes had not significantly affected his business.
At Ijora Olopa Frozen Food Market, Mrs Mahmoud Ganiyat, a chicken trader, said a carton of soft chicken currently sold for N41,000.
She said old-layer chicken sold for N52,000, hard orobo layer chicken for N53,000 and old chicken for N54,000.
Ganiyat said a carton of orobo chicken, which sold for N58,000 about two months ago, dropped to N50,000 two weeks ago.
She said the price had since risen to N53,000, attributing the fluctuations partly to exchange-rate changes.
According to her, some customers bought less when prices rose, forcing her to reduce her stock purchases from 200 cartons to 150.
She added that some customers who could no longer afford chicken had switched to fish.
Mr Akeem Abdullahi, another chicken trader, said a carton of fryer chicken currently sold for N39,000, compared with N41,000 to N42,000 the previous week.
He said a carton of hard orobo chicken, which sold for N62,000 about two to three weeks earlier, now cost N52,000.
Abdullahi attributed the price changes to rates charged by suppliers in Cotonou, adding that some customers bought half a kilogramme instead of one kilogramme.
Mrs Kehinde Rofiat, another chicken trader at the market, said a kilogramme of chicken now sold for N5,500, down from N6,500.
She said a carton now sold for N52,000, compared with between N58,000 and N60,000 previously.
Rofiat attributed the fluctuations to the lack of fixed prices, adding that some customers switched to fish when chicken became unaffordable.
On fish prices, Mrs Titilayo Balogun, a trader at Oyingbo Ultra-Modern Market, said prices for some varieties had remained relatively stable since January.
She said prices varied by type and size, with kote selling for N95,000 per carton, N6,000 per kilogramme and N4,000 per piece.
Balogun said Titus sold for N90,000 per carton and N5,000 per kilogramme.
She attributed reduced patronage partly to the demolition of houses, which had forced some residents to relocate to areas such as Ikorodu.
She said this had reduced customer numbers and affected the quantities people bought.
Mrs Ope Jakande, a panla seller at Oyingbo Market, said a carton of the fish had dropped from N70,000 in August and September to N60,000.
She said, however, that transportation and other operating expenses remained major costs for traders.
On egg prices, Mrs Rokibat Hamzat, an egg trader at Ijora Olopa, said a crate of small eggs sold for N5,800, while a crate of large eggs cost N6,200.
She said a small egg sold for N200 and a large one for N250, adding that prices had remained unchanged in recent months.
Hamzat said customers generally maintained their usual purchasing levels, although patronage sometimes declined on certain days.
Mrs Williams Chinaza, another egg trader at Ijora, said a crate of eggs currently sold for N6,500, compared with about N7,000 months earlier.
She attributed the price changes to poultry feed, transportation and supply costs.
Chinaza said relatively stable prices had helped sustain sales, although some customers bought according to how much money they had.
For consumers, even modest price increases have made it harder to decide what to include in daily meals.
Mr Olayinka Oluwafemi, a graphic designer living on Governor’s Road, Ikotun, said a piece of beef that previously cost N100 now sold for N200.
He said the increase had reduced his meat consumption by about 80 per cent.
Oluwafemi added that he sometimes spent between N1,000 and N1,500 on prepared meat, depending on the location.
He said he had turned to eggs as an alternative source of protein, with each egg costing between N200 and N250.
Similarly, Ms Chidinma Samuel, a cosmetics seller in Isheri, FESTAC, said her family’s spending on meat had increased considerably.
She said the family now spent between N5,000 and N6,000, compared with N3,000 to N3,500 previously.
Samuel said a large catfish that her family bought for N3,500 last year cost N5,000 when they bought one three days earlier.
She said rising meat and fish prices sometimes forced the family to prepare cheaper meals they would not ordinarily choose, or to go without meat.
Samuel added that her mother reared chickens, which the family could slaughter when meat and fish became too expensive.
Mr Habeeb Opeyemi, another consumer, said he currently spent N5,500 on a kilogramme of chicken, compared with N6,500 months earlier.
He said he had not reduced his overall consumption because chicken prices sometimes fell.
Opeyemi, however, said he bought half a kilogramme whenever prices rose.
Mrs Adebanke Agbo, a consumer from Akanro, Mushin, said she opted for eggs whenever she could not afford meat or chicken.
“Once you prepare a tasty stew and add eggs, you are good to go,” she said.
Agbo said food items could no longer be considered cheap in Lagos markets.
She said eggs, once relatively affordable, had also become expensive for many consumers.
Despite slight price reductions for some protein sources, she noted, many residents still struggled to afford them.
