Cost of healthy diet stood at N982 in March – NBS

The National Average Cost of a Healthy Diet (CoHD) per adult a day stood at N982 in March 2024, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) has said.

The NBS said this in its CoHD report for March 2024, released on Tuesday in Abuja.

The bureau said the CoHD in March increased by 4.7 percent compared to the N938 recorded in February.

The NBS said the CoHD was the least expensive combination of locally available items that met globally consistent food-based dietary guidelines.

It said it was used as a measure of physical and economic access to healthy diets.

“This is a lower bound (or floor) of the cost per adult per day, excluding the cost of transportation and meal preparation.”

The bureau said that to compute the CoHD indicator, the following data on retail food prices, food composition data, and healthy diet standards were required:.

The NBS also said that in March, the average CoHD was highest in the South-West at N1,198 per adult per day, followed by the South-East at N1,140 per day.

It said the lowest average CoHD was recorded in the North-West at N787 per adult per day.

The NBS further said that at the state level, Ekiti, Lagos, and Abia recorded the highest CoHD at N1330, N1249, and N1215.

The bureau said Katsina recorded the lowest CoHD at N739, followed by Sokoto and Zamfara at N758 and N766.

The NBS said CoHD had steadily increased since the first CoHD report by the bureau in October 2023.

“The CoHD in March 2024 is 40 percent higher than what was recorded in October 2023 at N703 and five percent higher than the CoHD in February 2024, which was N938.

“The food groups that have driven the increases in CoHD the most are vegetables, starchy staples, and fruits. The cost of meeting the recommendations for oil and fats has changed the least.”

According to the report, animal-source foods are the most expensive food group recommendation to meet in March, accounting for 37 percent of the total CoHD and providing 13 percent of the total calories.

It was noted that fruits and vegetables were the most expensive food groups in terms of price per calorie.

“They accounted for 12 percent and 14 percent, respectively, of the total CoHD while providing only seven percent and five percent of total calories in the Healthy Diet Basket.

“Legumes, nuts, and seeds were the least expensive food group on average, accounting for six percent of the total cost.’’

The report also said that in recent months, the CoHD had risen faster than general inflation and food inflation.

“However, the CoHD and the food Consumer Price Index (CPI) are not directly comparable.

“The CoHD includes fewer items and is measured in Naira per day, while the food CPI is a weighted index.

“The food CPI increased approximately by four per cent between January and February, while CoHD increased by nine per cent.’’

The NBS said the policy implications of these results would foster collaboration among a wide range of stakeholders, such as policymakers, researchers and civil society actors that focus on food security.

“These stakeholders will devise strategies that tackle access, availability, and affordability of healthy diet effectively.

“Also, future research incorporating income can also be used to determine the proportion and number of the population that are unable to afford a healthy diet,” the report said.