Post by Trade facilitator on Feb 12, 2023 0:52:05 GMT 1
Contemporary Issues of Wheat Production In Nigeria: Sector Analysis Of Problems Facing Nigerian Wheat Industry And Probable Solutions – Part 1
Wheat farming has always been seen as the most difficult aspect of Nigerian agriculture for quite a long time spanning many administrations both military and civilian.
This issue tends to defy solutions proffered by many professionals. In this article we are going to critically look at issues that may have been causing the hindrance to national success in wheat farming in Nigeria.
Irrespective of several policies and schemes put in place many successive government agencies to make wheat farming in the country a success, the problem still persists.
We will carry out a review of the contemporary issues of wheat production in Nigeria; we intend to achieve through secondary data analysis, which will involve related research articles, observations, meetings, government bulletins, and newspaper reports.
In trying to identify what has gone wrong or what has been preventing the achievement of success in wheat farming business in Nigeria, four major issues will be looked at. The issues are: production or farming, marketing, policies and politics, and governance. Wheat production is an unsolved issue in Nigeria for close to a hundred years, government efforts seem not enough to move Nigeria out of the "wheat trap".
Nigeria is the second-largest consumer of wheat in sub-Saharan Africa, behind Ethiopia.
According to the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, the “national requirement for wheat is 6.0 million metric tons annually, while our production is 420,000 metric tons.”
This means that there is a huge market awaiting any farmer that can produce wheat. Then why is production or farming of wheat in the country facing such difficulty?. It really looks that something is fishing in the whole scenario.
What actually is Nigeria’s annual wheat production?
From investigations I can say that nobody knows the actual annual production of wheat in Nigeria, and this is pathetic. How can you make progress with dependable statistics?
Analysis of the problems involved:
What are the major issues affecting wheat production in Nigeria, here we are talking about problems the primary farmers are facing that have made it impossible to make significant progress in wheat cultivation or farming.
The problems range from insurgency, lack of funding for regular seed production in order to tackle environmental problems, farmers' knowledge, limited area under wheat cultivation, and lack of timely input supply to the farmers, and others aggregated the present scenario.
Lack of adequate funding and diversion of funds meant for the farmers:
There is this major concern where direct wheat farmers have been complaining that funds that are meant for direct wheat farmers have been diverted without reaching the farmers the fund was meant for.
Mutairu Mamudu, a wheat farmer in Jigawa State, said most of the funds for wheat development allocated by the federal government did not get to the farmers.
He said, “Most of that money was diverted into personal pockets, and that is why production was not increasing as farmers were not getting the support they needed.
“I have been cultivating wheat since 2015 but I never got any input from the government until last year and this year. So, what happened to all the previous money for intervention in wheat production?”
Limited Access to and Shortage of improved seed varieties:
NVRC releases improved wheat variety.
Nigeria’s wheat production has received a boost as the National Varieties Release Committee has introduced a new improved variety to farmers.
The wheat variety named LACRI WHIT – 11, was recommended for release based on its heat tolerance, high yielding and good baking qualities.
The approval and release of the wheat variety was announced at the 27th meeting of the National Varieties Release Committee (NVRC) held at the National Centre for Genetic Resources and Biotechnology (NACGRAB), Ibadan, Oyo State recently.
Oladosu Awoyemi, chairman, NVRC stated that though a total of seven crop varieties were submitted for registration and release, only the wheat variety was approved for release by NVRC.
Awoyemi, a professor said LACRI WHIT – 11 was developed by the International Centre for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA) in conjunction with Lake Chad Research Institute (LCRI), Maiduguri.
According to him the variety has 90 to 95 days maturity period, well adapted to irrigated conditions of the Sudan – Savannah zones, and potential yield of 7.1 tonnes per hectare.
What does this imply?
China, the largest producer of wheat in the world:
Quantity produced in 2022: 138 million metric tonnes
Yield per hectare: 5,408 kg
India is the second largest producer of wheat in the world:
Quantity produced in 2022: 103 million metric tonnes
Yield per hectare: 3,093 kg
Russia is the third largest producer of wheat in the world:
Quantity produced in 2022: 91 million metric tonnes
Yield per hectare: 2,683 kg
United States of America is the fourth largest producer of wheat in the world:
Quantity produced in 2022: 44.9 million metric tonnes
Yield per hectare: 3,539 kg
Where then does the problem lie?
If the largest producer has about 5.4 metric tonnes per hectare as yield, and Nigeria’s new variety introduced in 1999 was expected to yield 7.1 metric tonnes per hectare, why is the failure so glaring in Nigeria?
Stay with us as we tackle this problem in our next article.
Addendum:
Our company is one of the best companies in Agro-Export Business in Nigeria today. We train individuals and corporate organizations on how to do Export Business the right way; if you are interested, please contact the admin of this forum now for further details.
Wheat farming has always been seen as the most difficult aspect of Nigerian agriculture for quite a long time spanning many administrations both military and civilian.
This issue tends to defy solutions proffered by many professionals. In this article we are going to critically look at issues that may have been causing the hindrance to national success in wheat farming in Nigeria.
Irrespective of several policies and schemes put in place many successive government agencies to make wheat farming in the country a success, the problem still persists.
We will carry out a review of the contemporary issues of wheat production in Nigeria; we intend to achieve through secondary data analysis, which will involve related research articles, observations, meetings, government bulletins, and newspaper reports.
In trying to identify what has gone wrong or what has been preventing the achievement of success in wheat farming business in Nigeria, four major issues will be looked at. The issues are: production or farming, marketing, policies and politics, and governance. Wheat production is an unsolved issue in Nigeria for close to a hundred years, government efforts seem not enough to move Nigeria out of the "wheat trap".
Nigeria is the second-largest consumer of wheat in sub-Saharan Africa, behind Ethiopia.
According to the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, the “national requirement for wheat is 6.0 million metric tons annually, while our production is 420,000 metric tons.”
This means that there is a huge market awaiting any farmer that can produce wheat. Then why is production or farming of wheat in the country facing such difficulty?. It really looks that something is fishing in the whole scenario.
What actually is Nigeria’s annual wheat production?
From investigations I can say that nobody knows the actual annual production of wheat in Nigeria, and this is pathetic. How can you make progress with dependable statistics?
Analysis of the problems involved:
What are the major issues affecting wheat production in Nigeria, here we are talking about problems the primary farmers are facing that have made it impossible to make significant progress in wheat cultivation or farming.
The problems range from insurgency, lack of funding for regular seed production in order to tackle environmental problems, farmers' knowledge, limited area under wheat cultivation, and lack of timely input supply to the farmers, and others aggregated the present scenario.
Lack of adequate funding and diversion of funds meant for the farmers:
There is this major concern where direct wheat farmers have been complaining that funds that are meant for direct wheat farmers have been diverted without reaching the farmers the fund was meant for.
Mutairu Mamudu, a wheat farmer in Jigawa State, said most of the funds for wheat development allocated by the federal government did not get to the farmers.
He said, “Most of that money was diverted into personal pockets, and that is why production was not increasing as farmers were not getting the support they needed.
“I have been cultivating wheat since 2015 but I never got any input from the government until last year and this year. So, what happened to all the previous money for intervention in wheat production?”
Limited Access to and Shortage of improved seed varieties:
NVRC releases improved wheat variety.
Nigeria’s wheat production has received a boost as the National Varieties Release Committee has introduced a new improved variety to farmers.
The wheat variety named LACRI WHIT – 11, was recommended for release based on its heat tolerance, high yielding and good baking qualities.
The approval and release of the wheat variety was announced at the 27th meeting of the National Varieties Release Committee (NVRC) held at the National Centre for Genetic Resources and Biotechnology (NACGRAB), Ibadan, Oyo State recently.
Oladosu Awoyemi, chairman, NVRC stated that though a total of seven crop varieties were submitted for registration and release, only the wheat variety was approved for release by NVRC.
Awoyemi, a professor said LACRI WHIT – 11 was developed by the International Centre for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA) in conjunction with Lake Chad Research Institute (LCRI), Maiduguri.
According to him the variety has 90 to 95 days maturity period, well adapted to irrigated conditions of the Sudan – Savannah zones, and potential yield of 7.1 tonnes per hectare.
What does this imply?
China, the largest producer of wheat in the world:
Quantity produced in 2022: 138 million metric tonnes
Yield per hectare: 5,408 kg
India is the second largest producer of wheat in the world:
Quantity produced in 2022: 103 million metric tonnes
Yield per hectare: 3,093 kg
Russia is the third largest producer of wheat in the world:
Quantity produced in 2022: 91 million metric tonnes
Yield per hectare: 2,683 kg
United States of America is the fourth largest producer of wheat in the world:
Quantity produced in 2022: 44.9 million metric tonnes
Yield per hectare: 3,539 kg
Where then does the problem lie?
If the largest producer has about 5.4 metric tonnes per hectare as yield, and Nigeria’s new variety introduced in 1999 was expected to yield 7.1 metric tonnes per hectare, why is the failure so glaring in Nigeria?
Stay with us as we tackle this problem in our next article.
Addendum:
Our company is one of the best companies in Agro-Export Business in Nigeria today. We train individuals and corporate organizations on how to do Export Business the right way; if you are interested, please contact the admin of this forum now for further details.
