Nigeria spends $11bn yearly on wheat, flour importation

Even as the nation grapples with scarce foreign currency, especially the dollar, it still spends $6 billon and $5 billion, on importation of wheat and flour respectively, according to investigations.

The attempts by former President Goodluck Jonathan, to find alternatives to use of flour and wheat for bread and other confectionaries hit the rock and there have been no further moves in that direction since.

Director, Institute for Agricultural Research, Prof. Ibrahim Umar-Abubakar, frowning at the development over the weekend in Zaria, Kaduna State, lamented that Nigeria’s wheat import bill could rise to such a whopping sum.

According to him, the solution lies on Nigeria increasing its present three per cent wheat production, because it has all it takes to up the yield.

He said: “How far can Nigeria sustain the cost of importing 97 per cent of its wheat, whereas the country has the capacity to produce enough quantity of wheat needed for local processing and consumption.

Read also: Ease of Doing Business: How we’ll put Nigeria among top 100 countries –Buhari 

“We have the capacity to produce enough wheat not only for our consumption, but also for export. Remember, we eat many products made from wheat every day. You can imagine what will happen if Nigerian farmers today decided to go on strike, can the oil money buy all the food we need in this country?”

Perhaps, it is in flour that Nigeria may continue to spend the huge sum, because there is yet to be production and processing of flour in the country.

But experts described as poor foresight that despite its potential, agriculture is still contributing 2.4 per cent of Nigeria’s GDP.

There is no formidable policy to accelerate agricultural development in the country until government stop paying lip service to it.

By Emma Eke…

 

 

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