ABSTRACT
Recent studies on food prices in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) found that food price seasonality in SSA remains
an issue. In addition to it causing price risk, and, hence, limiting market participation among farmers and
traders, the continued existence of substantial price seasonality implies that interventions that improve
food market development are needed. Using a dataset that is unique for Nigeria, we contribute to this
literature through measurement of the extent of seasonality in grain prices in a set of markets in Kebbi
state. We believe that our focus on seasonality at the state, rather than country or continental, level can
provide needed insights that are useful for identification of areas deserving stakeholder focus for rural
development related initiatives. A main contribution is that we find that there are large enough differences
in price behavior across the assessed markets to justify this more localized analysis.
