Flour Millers Spent N2.2tn Importing Wheat in Four Years

Gilbert Ekugbe
The Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (FMARD), has said that flour millers in the country spent over N2.2 trillion to import wheat into the country in the past four years.

The ministry attributed the high level of import to the country’s inability to meet its local demand of over 1.2 million tonnes per annum.

Investigations, however, gathered that the Flour Millers Association of Nigeria (FMAN) was only able to source for 10,000MT (metric tonnes) of wheat locally in 2021 amidst insecurity, volatility, high cost of production, low yields among others.

Specifically, reports from FMAN Secretariat revealed that insecurity and high cost of production frustrated domestic development of wheat production in the country.

The FMAN stated that it is very cheap to import wheat commodity from abroad into Nigeria than buying local ones at astronomical prices.

In addition, reports showed that price of wheat at the international market are between $280/$300 per tonne compared to local price of the same commodity at $420 per tonne.

According to the FMAN, the challenges facing Nigeria’s wheat sector are complex, saying this is one of the critical reasons it has been resorting to wheat importation from the USA, Malaysia, India.

Speaking on the impacts of insecurity on Nigeria’s wheat production in an interview with THISDAY, the Project’s Lead Researcher and Principal Research Officer, Lake Chad Research Institute (LCRI), Mr. Kachalla Kyari Mala, explained that the northern part of the country have the best climatic condition for wheat growing because of its suitable tropical environment.

While speaking on the challenges FMAN members are facing in sourcing for wheat domestically, the Managing Director, Crown Flour Mill Limited (CFM), a subsidiary of Olam, a leading agribusiness conglomerate, Mr. Ashish Pande, said that it has been tough sourcing for wheat locally in the country.