By Peter Duru, Makurdi

They are known for being the easiest source of affordable and cheap food for many, including artisans, students, traders, civil servants, transporters as well as commercial motorcycles operators popularly known as Okada and other low income earners.

The popular belief is that their presence in the food sector has in no small measure helped in putting food on the table of many, especially while at one’s place of work or business.

And in Benue State, which is known as the “Food Basket of the Nation” you find them in several locations, including popular street junctions, markets, public spaces sometimes close to offices and even the state Secretariat, ensuring that cooked food is readily available at affordable prices for ready buyers.

That is how important food vendors, also known as “Mama Put”, are to meeting the food needs of the majority of the downtrodden who daily rely on their services for survival. For this class of the population, Mamaput sellers have become irreplaceable.

For many in Makurdi the Benue State capital and its environs, Mamaput provides a ready source of cheap and affordable food for the generality of the masses and low income earners. That is why there is always a human traffic wherever Mamaput joint is located.

For as low as N200 in one’s pocket, there is an assurance that the customerS would eat food to their satisfaction. For that amount, the customer can decide to eat a plate of Benue pounded yam, soup and a piece of meat. And for those who prefer rice, corn, yam or cassava flour their choices are even cheaper because the foods are locally produced and in commercial quantities in the state. But pounded yam remains the most preferred delicacy in the state and it is never in short supply as it is grown across the state in large quantities, too.

Even in the remotest villages of Benue State, Mamaput spots provide varieties of cheap cooked food and most customers would even prefer to eat out given the affordability and quantity they dish out per plate.

Most people believe this was actually what earned the state and justifiably so, the appellation “Food Basket of the Nation.” Benue has been synonymous with cheap food and that was the situation in the state until recently when the table turned and the people are suddenly confronted with the sudden price hike of Mamaput delicacies.

Unlike what obtained not quite long ago, the price of a plate of Mamaput which used to be the preferred eatery for the ordinary people in the state, is suddenly going out of the reach of the people.

Findings indicate that a plate of Mamaput food with a small piece of meat in Makurdi and most parts of the state now sell for as high as N1,000, depending on the spot, as against the previous rate of between N200 and N300. The sudden jump in price appears to have dampened the enthusiasm and appetite of Mamput consumers in the state.



https://www.vanguardngr.com/2025/03/outrage-as-mamaput-food-prices-soar-out-of-reach-of-consumers-in-benue/