Confronting wheat shortage Oluwatomisin Amokeoja As Nigeria grapples with wheat insufficiency, stakeholders have met to discuss strategies to boost its production. DANIEL ESSIET reports
Wheat grain is in high demand from millers and pasta plants owners. To produce the required amount of wheat to feed the world’s growing population, researchers at Department of Global Development, Cornell University, United States predicted that wheat yields must increase at least 1.4 per cent yearly through 2030.
Like other staples, wheat is cultivated in Nigeria. However, its production is not sufficient for domestic requirements.
Despite this, population growth and increased feed grains requirements are expected to drive up Nigeria’s demand for wheat in the approaching years.
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Nigerians are at risk of food insecurity and malnutrition in 2021.
Ironically, Nigeria’s potential for food production is enormous. The National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies (NIPSS) reported that 84 million hectares of arable land are available for farming in the country but only 40% has been cultivated. Despite these potentials, food is one of the largest import commodities in Nigeria with an estimated spend of about $5 billion on an annual basis
(Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (FMARD).
As effort to diversify the country’s economy from oil propels the nation to relook agriculture, lack of investment in local production as well as dependence on food importation have proven to be significant impending factors in expanding the agricultural sector. Yet local agricultural productivity remains a “principal approach to solving the problem of long-term food insecurity”, says FOA.