Some produce dealers in Lagos have condemned the high cost of transporting their produce from the hinterlands to urban centres.
Some dealers on plantain, yam and groundnut told The Tide source that high transportation cost was preventing them from making profit in spite of the good price of their produce at the cities.
They called for extension of rail lines to the hinterlands to check the high charges by road transporters.
The Chairman of Iyanoba Produce Dealers, Mr Jarlomi Azeez, said: if the government cannot force the cost of transportation of produce down, they should be thinking of an alternative.
“As a group we have made presentations to the transporters in this regard, but to no avail.
“One of the things that is working against us is that these transporters are not united in one umbrella, so to hold them accountable becomes difficult,’’ he said.
According to him, transporters charge according to their discretion at any given moment without taking into consideration other variables.
Mrs Janet Obodo, who brings in yam from Alafia in Benue, said that aside from the transport cost that was trying to force them out of business, insecurity on the roads was also a problem.
“If the government can extend rail lines to the hinterlands where these produce are coming from, it will go a long way in reducing the cost of hauling them to the cities.
“It is not every dealer that can afford to pay as high as N250,000 for a trailer load of yam.
“Some of our members can no longer continue in the trade for not being able to meet-up with increasing demands,’’ Obodo said.
Another yam dealer, Mr Ayuba Itodo, said: “if government wants produce price to drop in the market, government ought to look into all the factors working against government intervention schemes.