Wheat farmers target one million MT in 2022/2023 season: Nigeria

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The Wheat Farmers Association of Nigeria (WFAN) has assured of its preparedness to cultivate over 350,000 hectares to produce not less than one million metric tonnes in the 2022/2023 farming season.

Former National President of the association, Salim Saleh Mohammed, in his last interview few days before he died on December 25, 2022, said this is possible with the support and encouragement from Central Bank of Nigeria’s (CBN) Anchor Borrowers Programme, the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development and other interested private partners.

He had said that the association expected to receive much and timely attention to produce enough to mitigate the disaster and the growing population.

He also said that massive food production, technical and financial support to increase production and productivity is paramount so as to get out from the global food crisis and uprise in prices of essential commodities especially Wheat farming.He further claimed that this will arrest the shortages of internal and external supply and avert the expected hike in prices of essential daily needs, such as bread, indomie, and snack that becomes household consumption.

He further said Nigeria is a potential bread-basket to feed Africa, while emphasising the need for synergy among the agricultural stakeholders in the country.

He stressed that there was a need to have stakeholders’ engagement with the government to achieve the much-needed synergy in terms of determining the challenges faced by them as well as mapping out strategies for improvement.

Former Executive Director, Lake Chad Research Institute (LCRI), Dr. Oluwashina Olabanji, said that the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development procured and distributed some inputs, seeds (300Mt) agro chemicals and farm equipment to wheat farmers, to aid accelerated wheat production in Nigeria.

He said that the Flour Milling Association of Nigeria has cultivated 4000 ha for seed and grain production in some of the wheat growing States in Nigeria.

Olabanji noted that the African Development Bank (AfDB) budget support for wheat self-sufficiency in Nigeria took off during the season with the promotion of local seed production by Agricultural Research Institutes and seed companies to reduce seed importation to the country and to enable the country has quality and quantity wheat seeds to cultivate the proposed 250,000ha for 2023/ 2024 cropping season.

“If the commitment of the government to the agriculture sector is sustained, no doubt Nigeria will be food secured in no distant future despite the global food crises,” he said.

Speaking further he stated that with the intervention of the CBN and African Development Bank (AfDB) in wheat production, it will take 10 years of persistence to be wheat self-sufficient.

He also said that the various initiatives to increase wheat production are yielding results.

In Nigeria, wheat is grown mostly in Borno, Bauchi, Yobe, Kano, Jigawa, and Zamfara States.