The funds for the research were released in the amount of $60 HBD to be traded for the local currency here since we do not have crypto stores that accept payments in Hive or HBD. Three hive members, @jjmusa2004, @raregem, and myself, were involved in this research after much deliberation on who should take on the research.

Due to the recent crackdown on Binance as the number one most used exchange within the country and one I am familiar with for trading, I had to seek out other methods as most exchanges were banned from withdrawing or trading the naira. Just so you know, no matter the crackdown on crypto, there will always be loopholes that we can navigate through, and the reason is not far-fetched. A good number of the population here is into crypto trading, and Nigeria is among the countries with a good amount of crypto holdings.

I registered for a new trading site, Remitano, and did the transactions there. The app listed only a few tokens; hence, our hive is often traded to either USDT or bitcoin cash on Binance before been withdrawn to the apps for P2p trading to fiat.One thing is certain: there is always the fear of losing your crypto, especially if you are trying a new site and are not familiar with the traders there. Besides, caution must be taken so that no crypto term is written within the memo of the trade when the fiat is transferred to our bank accounts.

Nigerian banks use those crypto terms to track down traders, and trading isn’t permitted in the country. country.

The fiat arrived, and hence this is another lucky trade. The buyer of the bitcoin cash (bch) and NGN has sent the fiat to my account with no crypto term in the memo of the cash transfer.
From here, the mission begins.

A price list of the most common stable food here can be seen below.

Out of all these grains, the ones with the most nutrients are the protein-rich soya beans and bean grains. At this time, it looks like both of them are more expensive than the other food items here.

Cost implications for Purchasing staple foods online, in supermarkets, and in local markets

While seeking quality value at the best rate, we looked into three options for purchasing our staple food. The first option was to place an order online and see if we could get some good value. As of today Thursday 13th June, these are the prices of products online.

• Price of rice online

50 kg of premium big bull rice is sold for 84k in promo price. Meaning that the original price is sold for 100k naira.
The location for this is Lagos City, and purchasing it would incur some additional delivery fees for whatever price we are able to get it, either at the promo price or the normal price.

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Calling to mind: just about a month ago, when this mission started, the price for this same item was 82k nairam when we first wanted to place an order. Such is the #inflation date and how high the prices of foods can go within the shortest possible time.

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• price of beans online

Looking at beans as another staple food. The only order available and closest to us can been seen here.
1kg of stone free packaged beans sold at N1250

source

The online store here has a trader who is only active once in two weeks. A stern warning from the site showed that no payment should be made. Payment must be made upon delivery, meaning that the agent is not to be trusted for several reasons known to them. After about 3 weeks of trying to place an order, it all went futile. This online store was more or less the only vendor closest to us city that sells beans online, and the response was slow and not forthcoming.
In summary, ordering beans or raw foods online is not advisable, and there is no certainty that products will be delivered.

Visiting the supermarket for the prices of raw food.

• Price of rice at supermarket.

We also took our research to a supermarket for window shopping on the price of raw foods.The premium Big Bull rice here carries a price tag of 90,000 naira.

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Different kinds of rice are sold here with varying price tags. I equally saw this rice for diabetic patients too. But the commonest one eating her is the premium big Bull rice above.

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• Price of beans at supermarket/mall

1kg beans White beans are sold for

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While 2kg of beans is sold for 8000k naira approximated from the picture below at the super market.

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Local market price of raw food

• Rice

Rice is sold for 90,500k naira for a 50-kg bag, and the price depends on each business store. They all do not sell their products at a fixed price.
7 milk tins, amounting to 1.6 kg, are sold for 2200 naira. And that bowl below used for measurements contains about 7tin milk.

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• Corn

Corn here is sold for 75k per bag.
And 1.6 kg of corn is sold for 1100–1200 naira. This corn can be ground into corn flour for making our local food here. 1-2 kg of corn flour can feed a family of five if they purchase the corn at the price above and if they have some money for soup along the way. Lets just say at most N5,000 naira should be able to make some corn meal for a family of 5.

• Beans

I think that this table price will do justice to the price of beans in our local market. I caught these prices while doing the food-cooking task.

• Soy beans
  Soy beans here are sold for N1200 naira for a 7-tin milk cup, or approximately 1.6 kg.
  (You can choose to measure up 7-tin cups of milk to determine the accuracy of the conversion there, @terganftp) Milk tin is among standards used for measuring grains here, and you can find the kilogram measurements written only on packaged foods in the supermarkets here.

Comparing beans and soy beans

7 cups of beans (1.6 kg) cost 2700 white beans and 2500 red beans, while soy beans are sold at 1200 for the same quantity.
Soya beans are cheaper but have limited use here since the processes involved in preparing them are really tedious.

A lot of people here will not even have the kitchen blenders and equipment needed to prepare soy milk. We only use soy beans for preparing tofu for now.

• Soy milk price

A look at the price of soy milk at the supermarket shows a price of 2000k above for a 250g size (from the next picture below) and 1k above for the smaller size.

A table for the prices of common staples in naira.

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After being able to pickup the prices of these things in these measured amounts, here is the breakdown of what was done with the $60 HBD sent after being converted to the sum of 89250k naira. About 10 indigent families were beneficiaries of the raw food distribution, taking home about 1.6 kg (7 milk tin measurements) of rice and 3.1 kg (14 milk tin measurements) of beans each.

7 milk tins of rice are sold for 2100k, but since we are purchasing them in bulk, we got 2070k each.
Here is another standard bowl we use for measurements. Each of the bowls 🥣 can contain about 7 milk tins of rice. Hence 10 measures of the bowl were measured for the 10 families.
The total amount of rice purchased is 20700,000 naira.

Beans were purchased for N48000k naira for the 20 measurements of the bowl. This was packed into two bowl measurements, which are 14 tins of milk for each family, together with the measured rice.

Hence 14 milk-tin measurements of beans And 7 milk tin measurements of the rice were packaged and giving out to each of the 10 families. A family of five should be able to feed on these for at least four consecutive meals if they have the money for the other recipe needed to spice the food.

Here are the financial implications of the food distribution purchase:.

After a thorough search on prices we realized that staple foods were more expensive in the supermarkets compared to our local markets. And Instead of spending a huge amount to purchase the packaged one from the mall we have bought the raw foods from our local stores and bought nylon bags to package it ourselves.

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A balance of 19300k was remaining, having spent N20700 on rice, N48000 on beans, and another N1000 to purchase nylon for packaging.
Out of the balance, we have both taken 6k each, myself and @raregem, for the cooking experiment. Which left an eventual balance of N7300.

Transfer to @raregem for food cooking task. And the balance for spending above budgets.

The 7300 will be enough to cover up for the excesses, which is about 5300, and the rest would have gone into miscellaneous and transports, which weren't included in all the figures. Meaning that the sum of 2k naira is the overall balance left.Having noticed that @raregem spent above budget with an extra 3300naira alongside myself with a sun of 2000.

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Some of the lessons I learned from this research and found very useful for myself and for Nigerian community most likely are these.

1. Purchasing in bulk saves one a good amount of money. We bought rice in bulk for 20700 as against buying it per bowl that would have cost 21000.

2. Purchasing foodstuffs during harvest and when they are in season will save one a whole lot of money.
   I compared the rate at which the prices of commodities were increasing between early May and the month of June. Here is what the figures has to say:.

Meaning that when foodstuffs are in season during harvest and farmers are bringing large quantities of them from the farm, the prices are relatively cheaper. As these goods go into storage, their quantity reduces, and prices begin to go up. By this time of the year, almost all the food in storage is exhausted, and the little food available to be sold in the markets becomes very expensive. The prices continue to go up until harvest comes again with abundant supply to bring down costs.

• The packaged raw foods in the stores are more expensive than the ones sold in local markets.
  Rest assured that it's the same quality of food but at different prices. A bottle of one-liter palm oil I bought here is sold for N1300 naira in the market, and it cost about N3300 naira at the mall due to packaging.
  These oils are of the same quality, and we are not sure if they must have added some vitamins for the increase in price.

• Ordering raw food here is risky as your orders will never arrive and payment before delivery is disallowed.

• A little window shopping and comparing prices from store to store will give you the best quality at a low cost.

Conclusion.

Alongside the other blogs written to determine the least required amount to make a nutrient meal by myself and @raregem, this is the final blog that completes the May mission. The prices of staples can be compared along side which will provide a better nutrient and at least price. The better options for purchasing raw food and how at least $60 worth of HBD was utilized for the project. I think it will be safe to say that $60HBD can feed 10 families for a 3square meal.

The N69700 spent here to purchase food would have provided more if these raw food were purchased in the month of May, looking at their price differences within this interval of time.

There was also a significant change in the price of rice too.
I guess this ends the blog even though I am not sure if pictures are allowed in the concluding parts of a project report but for clarity sake I have giving us the details of everything.

NB: Prices are all in naira. They were too bulky for me to start converting.

It was an honour to work with you both @raregem and @jjmusa2004. And to @terganftp for sponsoring this mission. I think it was more difficult to put the blog together in writting compared to going out for the field work😀.

Thank you.

Posted Using InLeo Alpha

As part of the mission report for the #earnspendgive community, we went on a multiple-task mission to compare the prices of stable food, mostly consumed by people in this part of the world. The mission tasks involve a search for the best possible price for each product for someone in need of a frugal lifestyle. Getting the best value at the lowest price. Which of the products in our market can guarantee a nutrient-rich, healthy meal at the best price?