The Dawanau Market Development Association (DMDA) of the International Grains Market in Kano has dismissed allegations that it is buying and hoarding food items, describing it as disinformation and misinformation.
Addressing a press conference at the weekend in Kano, the president of the International Grains Market, Alhaji Muttaqa Isah, declared that the market does not in any way hoard food items as the business does not support it.
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He said they deal in large quantities of food items that are purchased directly from farmers across the north and exported to some West African countries, Europe, and Asia in very large quantities.
He noted that they don’t deal in processed food items from production companies but rather serve as the source for their raw materials.
He called on the public to dismiss such allegations doing the rounds accusing them of hoarding the food items to raise the prices of goods saying they are dealers and don’t sell in small quantities.
He however explained that the prices of food items are affected by market forces resulting from the rise in the prices of fertiliser, pesticides and other farming requirements whose prices have soared very high.
He also lamented how insecurity has affected the production of some crops in affected areas of the country as well as the cost of transporting the items from the farm to the market.
“Following the recent rise in the prices of food products across the country, misinformation and disinformation have taken over the public terrain concerning our operations, and we are wrongly accused of hoarding food items.
“The association hereby calls on the attention of the general public to understand that we are dealers of items having an average daily turnover of N30 billion. Farmers from far away bring their products here, which we buy and sell wholesale for exports and other industries alike. We buy and sell and cannot possibly hoard.
“We do not buy goods or after products from industries, we rather buy our items directly from the farmers to sell to the public,” he said.
He also called on the federal government to intervene by renovating the rail transport system to ease the transportation of goods and enhance the activities of the inland dry ports.