Households cutting a beans budget in Lagos have two levers, and this week's data shows one is worth roughly five times the other. The Ministry of Agriculture and Food Systems market survey for the week of 17 July 2026 puts Beans (Oloyin) at a Lagos average of ₦4,820 per paint and Beans (Drum) at ₦4,322, a grade gap of ₦498 or 11.5%.
Grade Saves ₦498, Market Saves ₦2,500
Trading down from Oloyin to the drum variety keeps ₦498 per paint while changing the flavour and cooking behaviour of the meal. Trading down from the dearest market to the cheapest keeps ₦2,500 per paint and changes nothing about the beans. Fresh Food Hub Mushin quotes Oloyin at ₦3,500 while Ajah Market quotes ₦6,000, a difference of 71%. The cheapest Oloyin in Lagos is also 19.0% below the citywide average price of the supposedly cheaper drum variety.
The Ten Market Ladder
Fresh Food Hub Mushin sits 27.4% below the Lagos average. Mile 12 Market and Agbalata Market both quote ₦4,200 and Agege Market ₦4,500. Sabo Market Yaba and Mushin Market hold ₦4,800, Ile-Epo Market ₦5,000, Oyingbo Market ₦5,500 and Epe Main Market ₦5,700 before Ajah closes the table 24.5% above the average.
Protein Is Where the Grade Gap Bites
Beans carry more weight in a Nigerian food budget than their price suggests, because for many households they are the affordable protein rather than a side dish. That makes an 11.5% grade premium a live decision rather than a preference. The National Bureau of Statistics named cowpea among the items lifting food inflation to 17.52% in June, as Vanguard reported, so the category is under pressure even where the weekly direction is down.
Two Years of Supply Recovery
The reason a household can still buy beans at ₦3,500 traces to a harvest turnaround. The Cowpea and Beans Farmers, Processors and Marketers Association of Nigeria told the News Agency of Nigeria, in reporting carried by Punch and Nairametrics, that improved yields had brought a 100kg bag down to between ₦80,000 and ₦120,000 from ₦210,000 to ₦240,000 a year earlier. P.M. News found the same direction more recently, with beans down 14.8% from ₦88,000 to ₦75,000 a bag between the last quarter of 2025 and June 2026. The Lagos survey agrees, showing the average 8.2% below its 9 January level.
Why the Month Points Up
Against 9 January the price has fallen, but four weeks ago the average was ₦4,540, so beans are 6.2% dearer than a month ago even after this week's 2.0% dip from ₦4,920. The producing belt explains the turn. BusinessDay reported sustained attacks across Plateau and Benue at the peak of the 2026 planting season, and the All Farmers Association of Nigeria told Leadership that fertiliser, seed and labour costs had all risen this year.
The Retail Measure Tells the Same Story
Beans (Oloyin) also trades by the derica, averaging ₦1,062 across Lagos this week against ₦967 for Beans (Drum), a grade gap of 9.8% at that measure against 11.5% at paint level. The premium for the Oloyin variety therefore narrows slightly as the unit shrinks, which means households buying in small quantities give up a little less by staying with the variety they prefer.
What Both Levers Are Worth
Ajah Market is the only market on the Ajah and Lekki axis reporting an Oloyin price, and its ₦6,000 stands 28% above the mainland average of ₦4,689. Nigeria's minimum wage is ₦70,000 a month, so the market switch is worth 3.6% of a monthly wage per paint while the grade switch is worth 0.7%. FoodPrices Nigeria tracks both beans varieties across every reporting market. Live prices: foodprices.ng/real-time-prices