What is scarcity? Scarcity is the fundamental economic problem of having seemingly unlimited human wants in a world of limited resources…Nawa for big big grammar O lol !!!.

In simple terms think of a thing that you like to have. What would your life be like if you suddenly couldn't get any more of it?

You might have a favourite hobby, like playing football or even reading. You might have a favourite food, like pounded yam and egusi soup or even jollof rice . What would you do if your favourite food or books were no longer available?

People deal with this kind of problem every day. It's called SCARCITY. It comes from the word SCARCE, which means there isn't a lot of it or it isn't always available.

Some fruits and vegetables are scarce in markets sometimes because those fruits or vegetables grow only at certain times of the year. Because the supply of fruits and vegetables is lower, there is a better chance that those fruits and vegetables will be scarce, or not always available. For instance in Nigeria today tomatoes is scarce because of the mass ravage by a pest called Tuta Absoluta.

How does this affect the demand of tomatoes? Now If enough people want tomatoes because we need it too cook our favourite jollof rice and none are available, then the demand is quite high. And the demand is high not because the price is low (as is usually the case) but because the supply is low. This is a great example of scarcity because wants are more than what is available, in other words the demand is greater than the supply, hence tomato is scarce.

So how does scarcity relate to supply and demand? Scarcity is a measure of supply. If tomatoes are scarce, then the supply of tomatoes is low. And if many people want to buy tomatoes when none are available, then demand is high because of a low supply caused by scarcity.

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