Uncertainty over FG’s wheat strategy

Plans by the Federal Government to cut wheat importation by 60 per cent by December 2025 may suffer a set back, as imports have exceeded local consumption.

Finding by New Telegraph revealed that the country’s wheat imports would reach 5.2million tons (N786billion) or $2.18billion by the end of this month, while production had consistently dwindled to 60,000 tons since 2015.

There has been surge in the importation of the grain at $420 per metric ton because of the inability of the Federal Government to cut importation of the grain by 50 per cent since 2017, when it targeted to produce 1.5 million tons locally per annum.

It was gathered from United States Department of Agriculture’s trade portal that domestic consumption had grew from 4.7 million tons in 2017 to 4.8million ton in 2018, while imports was 5.2 million tons.

The United States is the biggest exporter of the grain to Nigeria, with 3.3 million tons arriving in 2017, followed by Russia with 1.7 million tons and other countries.

New Telegraph, December 5, 2018

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