A nutritious diet costs N938 in February, according to NBS

In February 2024, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) released a report stating that the National Average Cost of a Healthy Diet (CoHD) per adult day was N938.

This was disclosed in the NBS’s CoHD report for February 2024, which was made public in Abuja on Friday.

According to the bureau, the CoHD was the most affordable combination of locally accessible foods that satisfied internationally accepted food-based dietary recommendations.

It claimed to be a gauge of a person’s financial and practical access to a balanced diet.

“This represents the lower bound (or floor) of the daily cost per adult, exclusive of transportation and meal preparation expenses.”

According to the bureau, the following information was needed to calculate the CoHD indicator: retail food prices, food composition data, and the healthy diet standard.

According to the NBS, the average CoHD in February was N1,157 per adult per day in the southwest and N1,077 per day in the southeast.

The North-West was reported to have the lowest average CoHD, at N723 per adult per day.

According to the NBS, the states with the highest CoHD were Lagos, Osun, and Ekiti, with N1, 295, N1, 195, and N1, 184, respectively.

Katsina had the lowest CoHD, according to the bureau, at N673. Sokoto and Zamfara came in second and third, respectively, at N714 and N720.

According to the report, foods derived from animals accounted for 38% of the total CoHD in February, which means that they provided 13% of total calories, making them the most expensive food group recommendation to meet.

In terms of cost per calorie, it was mentioned that fruits and vegetables were the most costly food groups.

“While contributing only 7% and 5% of the total calories in the Healthy Diet Basket, they accounted for 11% and 12% of the total CoHD, respectively.

“At 6% of the total cost, legumes, nuts, and seeds were the least expensive food group on average.”

Additionally, the report notes that the CoHD has increased more quickly in recent months than both food and general inflation.

Nevertheless, there is no direct comparison between the CoHD and the Food Consumer Price Index (CPI).

“Whereas the food CPI is a weighted index, the CoHD is composed of fewer items and is expressed in Naira per day.

“CoHD increased by 9% between January and February, while the food CPI increased by about 4%.”

The NBS stated that the policy implications of these findings would encourage cooperation between various stakeholders, including researchers, policymakers, and food security-focused civil society actors.

“These stakeholders will develop strategies that effectively address the availability, affordability, and accessibility of a healthy diet.

The report stated, “Further research that takes into account income can also be used to determine the proportion and number of people in the population that are unable to afford a healthy diet.”