Spotlight on Pasta’s Rich Nutrient Sustainability through Wheat Production Sufficiency 

On World Pasta Day 2022, Uzoma Mba highlights its growing popularity, rich nutrient sustainability and the role government plays in ensuring wheat production self-sufficiency coupled with investments channelled by private organisations such as Crown Flour Mill into developing the sector 

Not many nourishing food types come in fine shapes. The shapes and sizes of pasta are endearing. This food type has been ingeniously shaped into enthralling varieties that resemble angels’ hair, alphabets, tubes, butterflies, necklaces, and bowties amongst others. Eating a portion of pasta is like consuming a piece of art.

How this food is served is also striking. Like a riveting Caribbean night, pasta servings come with assortments. Chefs treat the amazing food like an artist’s canvas – daubing it with sauces mixed with creams, tomatoes and veggies. Besides the artistic angle of the food, pasta is highly nutritious.

It is only fair to dedicate one day in a whole year to celebrate pasta. World Pasta Day is celebrated on October 25 every year. The observance promotes the rich and healthy food, and it provides a platform to review the culinary pleasure of eating a dish of pasta.

According to the latest research, pasta is fat-free. As well, it contains low sodium and low glycaemic index, which means it doesn’t trigger an unhealthy rise in blood sugar level. The food’s vitamin and folic acid composition make it an ideal food for pregnant women.

More, pasta can be combined with other food types on a menu. It usually forms an ideal dish partner with meat, vegetables, poultry, and sea foods. When combined with veggies and lean proteins, pasta does come in handy for consumers aiming to achieve some healthy dietary goals.

Considering the nutrient composition, the ingenious input at the factory levels and the rich varieties, the food type would continue to feature strongly in the global food mix for a long time.

In Nigeria, pasta continues to gain popularity. It is a prominent part of the deep assortments across shelves at retail stores, supermarkets, and local stalls. For instance, Abayomi Oluwo, the Managing Director of Igba Enterprises, a product distribution firm that is located at Olodi-Apapa road, told the local media that there is heightened competition in the local pasta market.

Consumers have had to pick from a smorgasbord of brands. Mrs Ronke Oshineye, a food vendor in the Shomolu area of Lagos State, hinted about her customers’ preference. She stated, “When I prepared Crown Premium Spaghetti in my restaurant, the customers described the taste as very nice. They all said that they preferred Crown Premium Spaghetti which I currently cook.”

Crown Premium Spaghetti (non-sticky) is one of the deep lines of food products produced by Crown Flour Mill (CFM) Limited, the flour-milling subsidiary of Olam Agri, a global agribusiness transforming food, feed, and fibre. The other pasta brands produced by the firm include Crown Slim Spaghetti, Crown Twist Cavatto, and Crown Elbow Macaroni. They are all highly fortified with micronutrients to nourish consumers.

However, pasta is produced from a dough of durum wheat, and Nigeria currently imports a large portion of the wheat it consumes. The recent global socioeconomic downturns such as the COVID-19 disruption to the global supply chain, the escalation of hostility in Ukraine and Russia, two of the top 10 wheat exporting countries, climate change and foreign exchange liquidity issues, meant the country can no longer rely on commodity import.

Essentially, it must accelerate its wheat development plans to reduce reliance on the importation of the commodity. Hence, asides from making its pasta brand available widely, CFM is driving growth in wheat production in Nigeria in line with the Federal Government’s wheat production self-sufficiency and food security agenda.

The flour-milling firm launched its signature value chain development initiative tagged Seeds for the Future in 2021. The project is addressing the various topographical and climatic challenges that keep impeding the effective delivery of growth in the local wheat industry.

Precisely, it is aiming to produce wheat varieties that suit the local landscape while adopting a community-based seed multiplication model that would ensure that the country provides the commodity in sufficient quantity to cater to local needs within two decades.

Remarkably, the firm has achieved a milestone in this wheat production projection. In the first-year report on the project unveiled recently, the business announced that it met its year-one target of producing 10 kilograms of pre-multiplication early maturing wheat seed varieties that are suitable for Nigeria’s unique local topography and climate.

According to Ashish Pande, Country Head, Olam Agri Nigeria, the achievement of the first-year target on the Seeds for the Future underlines the aptness of the model adopted on the project to develop the wheat sector. He said, “It also demonstrates our determination to push Nigeria closer to achieving food production self-sufficiency in quick time, in line with the Federal Government’s economic development agenda.”

Adding that the company is focused on ensuring growth across the food production value chain.

“Our intervention efforts are driving growth in the local economy. At the factory level, we are also investing in micronutrient premix infrastructure to ensure the consumers have access to the highly nutritious brands of foods necessary for proper mental and physiological well-being of the population.”

World Pasta Day 2022 certainly has shifted the spotlight to the rich nutrient and sustainability feature of pasta. The various wheat production self-sufficiency policies of the government and the investments channelled by private organisations such as CFM into developing the wheat sector assure that Nigerian consumers will continue to have access to their rich pasta dishes like other ardent pasta lovers around the world, but perhaps at relatively more affordable prices.

Olam Agri is a market leading, differentiated food, feed and fibre agri-business with a global origination footprint, processing capabilities and deep understanding of market needs built over 33 years. 

With a strong presence in high-growth emerging markets and products across grains & oilseeds, animal feed & protein, rice, edible oils, specialty grains & seeds, cotton, wood products, rubber and commodity financial services, Olam Agri is at the heart of global food and agri-trade flows with more than 40 million MT in volume traded annually.

 Focused on transforming food, feed and fibre for a more sustainable future, it aims at creating value for customers, enable farming communities to prosper sustainably and strive for a food-secure future. Olam Agri is a fully owned subsidiary of Olam Group.

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Our intervention efforts are driving growth in the local economy. At the factory level, we are also investing in micronutrient premix infrastructure to ensure the consumers have access to the highly nutritious brands of foods necessary for proper mental and physiological well-being of the population