We surveyed Nigerians across 16 states and found something striking: the same commodities appear on both lists — the foods people say are in surplus, and the foods people say they can't access. This is the gap TradeFlow NG exists to close.
Yam is the most surplus food in Nigeria according to our respondents — and simultaneously the most inaccessible. The same commodity. Abundant somewhere, unreachable somewhere else. That is not a supply failure. That is a distribution failure. And it is exactly what TradeFlow NG's routing intelligence already addresses.
60% of respondents in their region report yam as a surplus commodity. 43% of respondents report struggling to access yam or facing unaffordable prices. Both groups are right — but they are in different states. The food exists. The distribution system fails to move it.
The second most visible paradox commodity. Reported as surplus in supply states and inaccessible in demand markets — confirming the pattern holds beyond Yam.
The largest absolute surplus response in the survey — and still accompanied by a significant inaccessibility rate in other regions, demonstrating that even Nigeria's most produced staple faces distribution gaps.
Tomatoes are highly perishable — making distribution failures particularly costly. 39% surplus and 27% inaccessibility represents a window of 1–3 days in which better routing intelligence could prevent both spoilage and shortage.
The smallest surplus-to-inaccessibility gap in the survey. Only 6 percentage points separate the surplus rate from the inaccessibility rate — meaning the distribution failure for pepper is proportionally the most severe.
Channel preference
Mobile app and WhatsApp delivery are the two most preferred purchase channels alongside traditional markets. This maps directly to how TradeFlow NG already operates — weekly recommendations delivered via mobile-first dashboards and WhatsApp-compatible interfaces.
Structured questionnaire covering food availability, purchase behaviour, price sensitivity, and preferred purchase channels. Designed to surface both supply-side and demand-side responses from the same respondent pool.
Respondents across 16 Nigerian states — including both supply states (Nasarawa, Niger, Kogi) and demand centres (Lagos, Oyo, Abuja). Coverage intentionally spans the north-south agricultural corridor.
Responses aggregated by commodity and cross-referenced between surplus reports and inaccessibility reports. The paradox finding — same commodity on both lists — emerged directly from this cross-referencing, without pre-hypothesis.
Limitations: This is a meaningful early-stage survey but not statistically representative of all 36 states. Results should be interpreted as directional evidence and a foundation for larger follow-up studies. TradeFlow NG acknowledges this limitation when citing the data publicly.
The same agent data that powers trader recommendations can be exposed as a public-facing feed — showing which commodities are in surplus in which states and heading to which markets. One additional API endpoint. One additional page. The intelligence already exists.
Public-facing food availability and price intelligence for Nigerian households and community buyers. Powered by the same 19-agent network. Delivered via web, WhatsApp, and partner aggregators. Not a new product — a new audience for existing data.