The Association of Table Water Producers (ATWAP) In Nasarawa has disclosed it will start selling a sachet of water, otherwise known in local parlance as “Pure Water” for N20.
The producers attributed the development to high increment cost of production.
Chairman of ATWAP, Usman Diggi, in Keffi-Mararaba, made the disclosure on Saturday in Karu Local Government Area (LGA) at the end of a two-day workshop organised for their members in the area.
According to him, due to the high cost of production materials, it was no longer feasible for them to continue to sell sachet water at the cost of N10.
The chairman cited the reason for the proliferation of substandard table water in the state was the high cost of production materials.
He described unfortunate, the attitude of some members who have reduced the quality of their products due to the cost of production.
“It is better to increase the price of pure water and maintain the quality than to produce substandard products given its health implications.
Diggi, however, appealed to the government to do something urgently to reduce the prices of the materials so that sachet water would still be sold for N10 in the interest of the common people who were already going through a lot.
“The cost of nylon per kilogramme used to be N450 but at the moment it has gone up to N1,200, which is over 100 per cent increase and yet a bag of table water is sold for between N60 and N70.
“We are running at a loss, that is why some of our members are cutting corners to enable them to run the business,” he said.
Diggi added that the association was doing its best to discourage the practice while appealing to government to come to their aid.
He said a lot of their members have closed their factories due to high taxes, double taxation and high cost of materials in the market.
Diggi assured the public that the association, in collaboration with the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), would ensure the production of quality table water.
