New Telegraph

Dilemma over N2.2trn wheat import

Recently, the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Alhaji Sabo Nanono, disclosed that Nigeria, in the last four years, spent about N2.2 trillion importing wheat. With this, the quest to attaining selfsufficiency in local wheat production remains a mirage. TAIWO HASSAN reports

At the National Wheat Farmers Field Day held in Kano recently, the agribusiness conglomerate revealed that over 30,000 farmers had been trained and equipped through a joint effort of one of its strategic business units – Crown Flour Mill (CFM), Flour Miller’s Association of Nigeria (FMAN) and the Federal Government.

This is meant to deepen the national agricultural extension scheme, especially in the wheat segment in order to take a bold step to raise the level of agric production in the country. Besides, wheat is a popular ingredient in Nigerian households and it is critical to feeding the over 200 million strong national population. Wheat is milled into flour, which is then used to make staple foods such as semolina, noodles, bread and biscuits. These staple foods are eaten by a large portion of the population. However, with 420,000 tonnes of wheat produced in Nigeria in 2020 alone, according to data by the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, the country is still far from reducing the huge gap between its wheat production and national consumption demand levels of about five million metric tonnes annually.

Resorting to wheat imports

Amid the shortage of local wheat in catering for Nigerians’ consumption levels, there was no other choice than the Flour Miller’s Association of Nigeria to resort to importation of foreign wheat to bridge the gap. While speaking on the development and its implications on the country’s food sufficiency, agric minister emphasised that the country in the last four years had imported wheat worth about N2.2 trillion. The move, Nanono regretted, has put pressure on the current administration to put measures in place to change the narrative while calling on farmers to increase their yield to make up for the production deficit. The agric minister said: “In the last four years, wheat worth about N2.2 trillion was imported, but we have put in place measures to increase wheat production so as to reduce the import bill. “There is need for availability of seeds and creation of small scale industries through massive investment in the wheat value chain in order to reduce the importation of the cereal.” According to him, the agricultural development effort will encourage the development of small-scale wheat processing mills to make wheat flour and other wheat products available in the market.

FMAN’s stance

Managing Director, Crown Flour Mill Limited (CFM), Mr. Ashish Pande, a member of FMAN, said his company was committed to improving wheat production, through adequate financing and research in the country. He explained that the agribusiness conglomerate’s wheat development effort has led to the execution of several wellcoordinated capacity building initiatives, which include bringing local wheat farmers up to speed with innovative wheat farming practices. Pande stated: “We wish to get new technologies in Nigeria to further build on the wheat initiative. We look forward to partnering with organizations across the wheat value chain to improve farmers’ yields through high-quality seeds, expanded extension services and improved access to irrigation.”

WFAN’s position

Also speaking at the event, Alhaji Salihu Muhammad, Chairman, Wheat Farmers Association of Nigeria (WFAN), stated that the developmental stride of the association had introduced the Durum wheat variety, one of the most cultivated varieties of the crop, and engaged the services of experienced seed scientists to accelerate wheat production in the country. He further called for the inclusion of wheat farmers in Federal Government’s Anchor Borrowers’ Programme (APB) because the exclusion of their 200,000 registered members has negatively affected wheat production in the country.

Agric extension programmes

Precisely, the agricultural extension programmes are transforming the national agriculture landscape and driving national food security. The coordinated measures taken by Crown Flour Mill, FMAN, WFAN, the Federal Government and Kano State Government are equipping farmers with modern farming techniques, crop processing and entrepreneurial skills, and would add value to agricultural produce. Apart from contributing immensely to training the 30,000 farmers, CFM and other members of FMAN have provided support to 800 farmers in Kano, Kebbi and Jigawa states. The farmers were provided with improved seeds variety, fertilisers, chemicals and 50 threshers under a soft loan scheme designed to enhance farmer access to inputs and extension services.

Oxfam collaboration

It would be recalled that the miller’s association also recently collaborated with Oxfam and agricultural research institutes to establish wheat farming service centers in 15 LGAs in the northern wheat-growing states. Nigeria is in dire need of aggressive national action at this present time to ensure her growing population is well nourished as the world food system continues to contract due to the impact of the on-going pandemic. Agnes Kalibata, the special envoy to the UN secretary-general, put the global food crisis in sharp perspective at the food systems summit 2021 when she said: “Food systems have contracted, because of COVID-19. Food has become more expensive and, in some places, out of reach for people. Food is looking more challenging this year than last year.”

Last line

Agric stakeholders believe that encouraging wheat production and processing would go a long way to boosting food security and economic growth, thus appealing to the federal and state government to support the wheat farming sector with integrated mechanised equipment.

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