A 50kg bag of Drum beans at Ajah Market sold for N48,000 across the weeks of 2 February, 9 February and 23 February. By the week of 1 June it reached N135,000. That is an increase of N87,000, or 181.3 percent, on a single bag, and it lands on the food item Lagos households turn to most when meat and fish move out of reach.
The pressure is not confined to one variety. Oloyin beans, the sweet brown type preferred for moin moin and ewa agoyin, tells a parallel story at the same market. A 50kg bag opened the period at about N60,300 in early February, firmed to N64,000 by 9 February, and reached N80,000 in the week of 23 February, a gain of 32.6 percent from the early February figure. It then eased to N74,000 in mid March and settled at N70,000 by June. The retreat from the February peak gives buyers a small reprieve, though the bag still sits well above where it started the year.
White beans entered the Ajah record for the first time in the week of 1 June at N120,000 for a 50kg bag. This is a first verified capture rather than a movement, and it adds a third reference point at the upper end of the market.
Not every measure ran. A single derica of Drum beans held flat at N1,000 from February through June. For a household buying by the cup rather than the bag, the daily cost of beans has shifted far less than the wholesale figure implies, because traders adjust the cup size and the cup price more slowly than the bag.
The strain on legumes mirrors the national picture. The National Bureau of Statistics has recorded stubborn food inflation through the planting season, and the FAO has flagged tightening regional cowpea supply as demand from neighbouring countries pulls Nigerian stock across the borders. Beans are harvested mainly in the north between October and December, so prices typically firm through the long stretch before the next harvest. Reporting from Nairametrics has tied similar surges to transport costs and insecurity along the northern supply corridors.
Buyers weighing the bag against retail cups can follow both at the live Ajah Market prices page, or set markets side by side on the compare tool.