Updates

Every update, newest first

Every update the desk files lands here, newest first, with the section, the date and the byline on the card. Read straight down the page or jump to the section you follow. The feed grows as stories come in, and older reports stay up rather than disappearing, so you can check what we said at the time.

• Rains slow how fast produce moves — Food · 14 May · Desk bylineTraders across three markets told our desk the same thing: roads are slowing how fast produce moves. We asked what changed, and how long they expect it to last.
• What the new salt guidance means in a kitchen — Nutrition · 13 May · Desk bylineNot a new diet, just a shorter shopping list. We put the guidance beside what a Nigerian household actually cooks for a family of five.
• The food committee met: what it said, what it left open — Politics · 12 May · Desk bylineWe read the statement in full and pulled out the parts that touch markets, storage and transport. The questions it left unanswered are listed at the end.
• Cocoa prices abroad and what reaches our shelves — International · 11 May · Desk bylineExport prices move first; shop prices follow later. We look at the gap between the two, and which Nigerian buyers feel it soonest.
• Fish landing to market: one cold chain followed — Food · 10 May · Desk bylineOur desk followed a single load from landing to stall. Sellers told us what they pay for ice and what they do when a delivery runs late.
• How to read a food label without the marketing — Nutrition · 9 May · Desk bylineTwo lines on the pack matter more than the front design: what is in it, and how much you get in one serving. No jargon.
• Grain storage: why the bag matters more than the room — Food · 8 May · Desk bylineTwo farmers explained how they keep grain dry through the rainy months. Both said the same thing: the bag fails before the room does.
• Breakfast briefs: what changed in five states — Politics · 7 May · Desk bylineShort notes from five states on levies, transport fares and market rules, each with the date it took effect and who confirmed it.
• Palm oil imports and the price on one bottle — International · 6 May · Desk bylineImport volumes are one signal, shelf prices are another. We explain how the two track each other, and where they have stopped matching.
• What a balanced plate costs in three cities — Nutrition · 5 May · Desk bylineThe same plate, priced in three cities in the same week, using items a household already buys rather than imported substitutes.
• Cold room power cuts: what vendors do next — Food · 4 May · Desk bylineWhen the lights go, the day's stock sits in the heat. Vendors in two markets told us their backup and what it costs them monthly.
• Why one shelf stays steady while others move — International · 3 May · Desk bylineSome shelves hold their price while everything else shifts. We followed one such item back through contracts, freight and the exchange rate.

Browse by section

Food covers what is grown, sold and eaten across Nigerian markets. Nutrition takes the guidance and the labels and puts them beside what a household actually cooks. Politics follows the decisions, budgets and committees that touch food. International watches the stories abroad that show up on our shelves and in our prices.

• FoodWhat is grown, sold and eaten: market prices, harvests, transport and storage, reported from the places it happens.
• NutritionGuidance, labels and what actually reaches the plate, written so a household can use it the same day.
• PoliticsThe decisions, budgets and committees that touch food, and what each one changes at the market or the shop.
• InternationalForeign stories that reach Nigerian shelves and prices, explained in the order they affect buyers here.

Have a food story for us?

You do not need to be a reporter to send us something. Tell us what you saw, where it happened and when, and attach a photo if you have one. If you are a trader, a farmer, a cook or a shopper, your account of the week is exactly the kind of thing this desk publishes.