Efforts are being intensified to ensure the availability of wheat to flour millers, biscuit makers, and other consumers. The Federal Government is collaborating with the African Development Bank (AfDB), the Flour Milling Association of Nigeria (FMAN), and the Wheat Farmers Association of Nigeria (WFAN) to achieve a target of 800,000 tonnes this year, it was gathered at the weekend.
Additionally, the Federal Government has decided to eliminate tariffs on wheat and other staples within a 150-day timeframe.
A recent satellite mapping and remote sensing study on cultivated acreage and yield estimate has unveiled that around 277,577 hectares are presently being cultivated, reflecting a substantial 139per cent surge from last year’s 115,909 hectares. This study, which focused on wheat cultivation in 15 Northern states, was conducted under the AfDB initiative and the National Agricultural Scheme – Agro-Pocket (NAGS-AP) programme, indicating an expansion in the cultivated area.
The states include Adamawa, Bauchi, Borno, Gombe, Jigawa, Kaduna, Kano, Katsina, Kebbi, Niger, Plateau, Sokoto, Taraba, Yobe and Zamfara.
This year, Jigawa is cultivating 39,904 hectares of wheat as against 18,288 last year, while Niger is cultivating 42,672 hectares as against 1,466 last year.
Under a Nigerian Wheat Expansion Project, FMAN is receiving Technical Assistance (TA) support from IDH, an international social enterprise to develop and implement the wheat supply chain towards increasing production capacity.
The project, spanning three years, aims to empower a total of 25,000 farmers (comprising 5,000 block farmers and 20,000 new smallholder farmers) utilising farms located in four states, namely Jigawa, Kano, Bauchi, and Sokoto states. It is anticipated that the Wheat yield will see a 75 per cent increase from the initial 2.0 to 3.5 metric tons (MT). This rise in productivity and the corresponding increase in yield is projected to double farmers’ income compared to the baseline.
FMAN is expected to offtake 99,450 metric tons of wheat grain from the project farmers (54,450 from block farmers and 45,000 from the non-block farmers across the 4 states). FMAN is raising 20,000 tree seedlings to be distributed to the block farmers.
Also, WFAN had assured of its preparedness to cultivate over 350,000 hectares to produce not less than one million metric tonnes, while OCP Nigeria is working with Lake Chad Research Institute (LCRI), on specialty fertiliser to farmers, to aid accelerated wheat production in Nigeria.
A recent United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) grain report said Nigeria will see a 42 percent rise in wheat production between July last year and this year owing to a competitive guaranteed price agreed between farmers and millers.
The report stated that FMAN has signed a memorandum of understanding with WFAN to purchase wheat at a competitive price.
FMAN has engaged certified seed companies to produce sufficient improved wheat seeds to plant 10,000 hectares (ha) in both the dry and wet seasons. The project provided input loans to cover 4,300 farmers in seven wheat-producing states: Kano, Jigawa, Sokoto, Kebbi, Zamfara, Bauchi, and Kaduna.