In 1987, the federal government banned the importation of wheat and implemented an Accelerated Wheat Production Programme aimed at stimulating local production of wheat in the country. Farmers were mobilised to produce wheat and were provided necessary inputs at subsidised rates, and equipment to boost wheat production. Here, JOHN OBA notes that lack of policy continuity and several other challenges are the bane of wheat production locally
Then the introduced varieties had very low yields, as average yield was less than one ton per hectare. But more importantly, the programme failed because of the reluctance of wheat millers in the country to patronize wheat produced locally in the country. With the lifting of the ban in 1990, the programme abruptly ended, and wheat production spiraled downwards to 70,000MT by 1991.
Today, Nigeria is ranked among the world’s largest importers of US hard red and white winter wheat, now the country’s wheat import is about 4 million metric tons annually and is estimated to grow at an alarming rate of 5% per year. This implies that country will be importing 10 million metric tons of wheat annually by 2030, while spending US$15 billion on wheat imports alone.
Wheat flour is very important in the daily meal of Nigerians and the world at large and this could be seen by the numbers of products gotten from it. Some of the products include bread, pastries, crackers, biscuits, pretzels, noodles, farina, breakfast foods, baby foods and food thickeners. It is also used as a brewing ingredient in certain beverages (white beer).
While the by-products of flour milling, particularly the bran, are used almost entirely to feed livestock, poultry or prawns, wheat germ (from wheat embryos) is sold as a human food supplement. Straw is fed to ruminants or used for bedding material, thatching, wickerwork, newsprint, cardboard, packing material, fuel and as substrate for mushroom production. In many dry parts of the world it is chopped and mixed with clay to produce building materials.
According to Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) estimates, the average world production of wheat grain (bread wheat and durum wheat together) in 1999–2003 amounted to 576 million tons per year from 209 million hectares.
Average world export of wheat amounted to 115 million tons per year in 1998-2002, the main exporters being the United States (26.7 million tons per year), Canada (16.5 million tons per year), Australia (15.9 million tons per year), France (15.9 million tons per year) and Argentina (10.0 million tons per year).
Main importers are Italy, Brazil, Japan and Iran, each importing more than 5 million tons per year. All countries in tropical Africa are net importers. The main importer in tropical Africa is Nigeria (1.9 million tons per year in 1998 –2002), followed by Ethiopia (770,000 tons per year), Sudan (710,000 t/year) and Kenya (570,000 t/year). The share of food aid in wheat imports is as high as 80% for some countries.
Owning to this, the minister of agriculture and rural development, Dr. Akinwumi Adesina, revealed that the present administration is set to put a lie to the long-touted myth that Nigeria cannot produce wheat in commercial quantities to enable her exit the choking grip of importation of the commodity.
Adesina recently made the assertion while launching two new high-yield, early maturing, heat-tolerant and drought-resistant wheat varieties developed by the Lake Chad Research Institute (LCRI), in conjunction with the International Centre for Agricultural Research in Dry Areas (ICARDA), International Maize and Wheat Improvement Centre (CIMMYT) and Institute for Agricultural Research (IAR), Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, with assistance from the federal government and grant from the African Development Bank (ADB).
He said Nigeria must grow a lot more of its own wheat and reduce the national, economic and political risks of depending on other nations for it food supply. “Today, we are reviving hope for Nigeria to produce its own wheat and free itself from decades of dependence on imported wheat. Such over-dependence on imported wheat will pose significant risks to Nigeria’s future growth.”
He said the two new varieties, named Norman Borlaug and Reyna-28 which have potential yields of 5 – 6 metric tons per hectare as against the traditional variety with a yield per hectare of just 0.8 million metric tons per hectare were showcased to members of the public, agribusiness investors, journalists and other stakeholders on the field in Kadawa in Kura local government of Kano state.
The traditional low-yield wheat variety being grown in Nigeria with just 0.8 million tons per hectare he revealed was not considered a viable candidate for inclusion among the crops to be supported under the ministry’s Growth Enhancement Support (GES). And that in 2012, the ministry decided to support research works being conducted to develop improved varieties of the crop by LCRI, noting that he was happy with the outcome the wheat game-changer being showcased to the public.
“A silent revolution is now happening on wheat farms all across Northern Nigeria. The target of the wheat transformation is to increase national production from 300,000 metric tons to about 1.5 million metric tons per annum by 2017. The wheat transformation agenda will generate one million jobs in the rural areas of Nigeria over the next four years of the program and generate over N42 Billion in incomes annually for farmers and millers,” he stated.
Adesina further disclosed that his ministry has begun massive distribution of early maturing, high yield wheat varieties to farmers through the Growth Enhancement Scheme (GES) and electronic wallet scheme. Adding that in the 2013/2014 wheat dry season, 9,143 farmers in eight Northern States (Kano, Jigawa, Kebbi, Zamfara, Borno, Yobe, Gombe, and Sokoto) each received improved seeds, at no cost, and two bags of fertilizer, at 50% subsidy, via their mobile phones.
“A total of 2,500 hectares of wheat fields were cultivated in 2013. For the 2014/2015 wheat season, a total of 75,000 hectareswill be cultivated by 75,000 farmers. The area under wheat production is expected to increase to 150,000 ha by 2015/2016 dry season and to 300,000 hectares by 2016/2017 dry season. At the average yield of 5MT/Ha, Nigeria will achieve its target of producing 1.5 million metric tons of wheat by 2017 and reduce wheat imports by 50%.”
The ministry he said is collaborating with SG2000 on an aggressive technology transfer programme to ensure massive wheat production.
“Using funds from the wheat levy, we will support wheat farmers with processing equipment (500kg per hour milling machines), land water development, irrigation pumps, all at subsidized rates. We will also develop policy options to promote and protect domestic producers and processors. The accelerated production of wheat all across the north east and North West regions of the country will create massive amounts of jobs, especially for the youth, and reduce insecurity in these regions. We must not grow poverty in Nigeria, because poverty is not an industry.
He assured that government will soon introduce a bill that will make it mandatory for wheat millers to buy the local wheat and use it to substitute for some of the wheat being imported.
Executive director of the Lake Chad Research Institute (LCRI) Dr O. G. Olabanji, said the Institute has the national mandate for the genetic improvement of wheat, millet, barley in the entire North-East zone of Nigeria. Adding that the focus of the Institute was identification of land races with high yielding and responsive to Nigerian ecological conditions but that as demand for agricultural products increased, the objectives of research were widened to include development of high yielding, early maturing, drought and heat tolerant, pests and disease of crop varieties.
The Institute has cultivated 20 hectares for the 2013/2014 wheat season for production of breeder and foundation seeds, the first of such programme in the history of the Institute. He also said the two varieties launched will be released to farmers for cultivation during 2014 cropping season.
But experts belief that there is the need for the government to allocate more fund to the research institute across the country to enable the institutes recruit high calibre staff as well as solve the problem of inadequate farm equipment, notably tractor implements and combine harvester without which the institutes goal of producing enough planting materials for distribution to seed companies and farmers will be adversely affected.
