The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said on Thursday the cost of healthy food per adult a day stood at N1,255 in August.
The NBS disclosed this in its National Average Cost of a Healthy Diet (CoHD) report released in Abuja.
It added that the CoHD decreased by 0.8 percent compared to the N1,265 for July.
The NBS described the CoHD as the least expensive combination of locally available items that met globally consistent food-based dietary guidelines.
It was used as a measure of physical and economic access to healthy diets.
The report read: “This is a lower bound (or floor) of the cost per adult per day excluding the cost of transportation and meal preparation.
“To compute the CoHD indicator, data on Retail Food Prices, Food Composition Data, and Healthy Diet Standards are required.
“In August, the average CoHD was highest in the South-West at N1,554 per adult per day, followed by the South-South at N1,381 per day.
“The lowest average CoHD was recorded in the North-West at N1,014 per adult per day.
“At the state level, Ogun, Lagos, and Rivers recorded the highest CoHD at N1,641, N1,615, and N1,572, respectively.
“On the other hand, Katsina recorded the lowest CoHD at N880, followed by Kaduna at N951, and Sokoto at N980.”
The NBS pointed out that the CoHD had steadily increased since March.
“The CoHD in August 2024 is 28 percent higher than what was recorded in March 2024 at N982.
“The food groups that have driven the increases in CoHD are legumes, nuts and seeds, starchy staples, and vegetables.
“On a month-month basis, CoHD declined by 0.8 percent compared to the cost in July 2024 at N1,265 and vegetables saw a decline in price by 14.5 percent on monthly basis,” it concluded.
