Reversing Nigeria’s N826bn Annual Wheat Import Bill Through ‘Brown Revolution’

To say that Nigeria has been meeting its wheat supply gap by spending about $2bn annually on wheat importation would be stating the obvious.

For so long, the wheat industry has been in a dire strait, considering the enormity of the challenges which has bedeviled the sector in the past. This has negatively impacted the price of flour, forcing many bread producers to shut down, while confectionary makers also abandon the business, as they could not break-even.

Indeed, the supply gap of the produce was getting wider on a daily basis. According to the US Department of Agriculture’s data, Nigeria produces about 60,000 metric tonnes, and yearly demand stands at between 4.5 million and 5.0 million tonnes, leaving a huge deficit gap yearly.

According to data sources, the country’s wheat import has been growing massively in the last six years. For instance, Knoema, an international research firm, revealed that the country’s imports quantity increased from 350,000 tonnes in 1971 to 650,000 tonnes in 2020 growing at an average yearly rate of 10.21 per cent.

In its report, Knoema noted that Nigeria imported 6.5million tonnes of wheat in 2020 alone. The report said Nigeria was among 15 countries that imported the highest dollar value worth of wheat the same year.

In the continent, Egypt and Nigeria were reported to have imported the largest amount of wheat — Egypt: $2.7bn (5.7 per cent of total imported wheat), while Nigeria imported value of $2.06bn was 4.3 per cent of the global total.

The huge amount being spent on wheat importation in Nigeria has been having a negative impact on the country’s foreign reserves.

It was in a bid to end this importation that President Muhammadu Buhari and the Central Bank of Nigeria Governor, Mr. Godwin Emefiele, unveiled the brown revolution project.

The primary objective of the initiative is to end the importation of wheat in the near future and eventually, other grains.

The Brown Revolution scheme was specifically targeted at replicating the gains recorded in the rice and maize value chains, which is consistent with solving Nigeria’s food insufficiency imbroglio.

The initiative also draws inspiration from the need to cut back on the $2bn spent annually in importing five million metric tons of wheat, thus depleting Nigeria’s foreign reserves and ballooning the unemployment figure.

With wheat being the third most widely consumed grain in Nigeria after maize and rice, the initiative is equally motivated by the federal government’s commitment to economic diversification, which finds expression in the mantra of ‘producing what we eat and eating what we produce’.

The CBN, the driver of the scheme, said that there exists an unflinching resolve to push the Brown Revolution to a higher pedestal, adding that the gains were becoming so manifest, especially with the expansion of crop production in Nigeria.

Based on statistics from the CBN, Nigeria only produces about one per cent (63,000 metric tons) of the five to six million metric tons of wheat consumed annually in Nigeria.

With the demand-supply gap being bridged with over $2bn spent annually on wheat importation, this has made wheat the second highest contributor to the country’s food import bill.

Given the high growth rate of the country’s population and the demographic structure, the demand for wheat is projected to continue to rise. This can only intensify pressure on the country’s reserves unless the government takes a decisive step to grow wheat locally.

Speaking while unveiling the first ever rain-fed wheat programme at the CBN-ABP Wheat Seed Multiplication Farm, Kwall, Basa, Plateau State recently, Emefiele said that over the years, the availability of low-yielding seeds variety locally and poor agronomic practices have hampered successful cultivation of wheat in Nigeria.

He explained that this has led to low productivity, making wheat production unappealing to farmers and unattractive for private sector investments.

In order to change the situation and leverage domestic production to bridge the demand-supply gap in the country, the apex bank boss said the CBN has decided to add wheat to the list of focal commodities to be supported under the Bank’s agricultural intervention programmes.

This collaboration with key stakeholders, he noted, has culminated in the gains being witnessed under the CBN intervention in the agriculture sector.

The Governor said the Bank recognized that improved seeds varieties is the bedrock of any crop production process, adding that this informed why the CBN acquired high yielding varieties from Mexico with potential average yield per hectare of 5-7 metric tons as against a range of 0.8-1.8 metric tons yield per hectare of those varieties previously cultivated.

The strategy for the wheat value chain involves ensuring availability of high-yield seeds by financing seed multiplication and establishment of seed ripple centres; expanding land under cultivation for wheat to a capacity that can meet total national demand through association and collaboration with relevant federal agencies and state governments.

Emefiele also said the CBN is pursuing strategic collaboration with key stakeholders in the wheat value chain for sustained local production, adding that this strategy seeks to reduce wheat importation by 60 per cent in two years and ultimately eliminate wheat importation or reduce it to an insignificant contributor to the country’s total food import bill.

He said, “The CBN will not rest on its oars as we continue to work with our partners, Lake Chad Research Institute, to expand the frontiers of wheat production in Nigeria to areas like northern Oyo, Kogi and Kwara states.

“We are hopeful that with the right technology and agronomic practices, we can change the narratives and develop two wheat cropping cycles to support an aggressive drive to bridge the wheat demand-supply gap in Nigeria.”

Although, the CBN’s effort in wheat production is still in its early days, it has achieved many feats in the wheat value chain.

For instance, he said through the apex bank’s intervention, about 20,000MT of high yielding wheat seed variety has been added to the stock of national seed supply, while over 100 senior extension service officers have been trained on new technologies for wheat cultivation. He also added that the CBN has designed a strategy for self-sufficiency in wheat production.

The National President, Wheat Farmers Association of Nigeria, Mr. Salim Saleh Muhammad, described the initiative as a game changer for the agricultural sector, adding that planting would be done at safe states and areas to guarantee high yield and good return on investment.

He said that bankers, millers and other wheat stakeholders were onboard the revolution train.

He added that unemployed youths have constituted grave security challenge and that agriculture will provide avenues to absorb the jobless youngsters and ultimately help tackle the insecurity challenge.

Another farmer, Abdulahi Adamu, said that the commencement of the wheat revolution was a sign that good fortunes were underway for farmers and Nigerians in general.

“Before now, we suffered in planting wheat and other grains. But now, the government is giving us better varieties and better ideas on how to maximize our yield.

“My brother is into rice farming and today, he’s a millionaire. All he does is to plant and harvest his rice and there are off-takers to take it from there. There is no worry about markets to sell or post-harvest losses.

“That is what will happen to us wheat farmers. I can’t wait to join this scheme”, he explained.

Another farmer, Usman Garba said the new initiative will ultimately take millions of farmers out of the poverty line.

“Rice farmers are now millionaires. Wheat farmers will join suit. Nigeria is a huge country with huge potential. With agriculture, we can solve the problem of insecurity by engaging the youths. Agriculture is the new oil”, he said.