Hope of increased wheat production heightens with improved varieties

The discovery of two improved varieties of wheat is expected to position Nigeria well in local wheat production, sufficient to reduce national wheat import by half in 2015.

In a statement by Olukayode Oyeleye, media assistant to the minister of agriculture and rural development, two improved varieties of wheat – Norman Borlaug and Reyne 28 – that can produce five to six tons per hectare have been discovered by researchers, specifically for Nigeria.

In the statement, Oluwasina Olabanji, executive director, Lake Chad Research Institute (LCRI), in Abuja, disclosed this while presenting 100 percent Nigerian wheat bread to Akinwumi Adesina, the minister of agriculture and rural development in his office. Olabanji said these varieties were due to be released in 2014, and were expected to boost the economy of the Northern part of Nigeria.

The research result was achieved through collaboration with International Maize and Wheat Improvement Centre (CIMMYT) in Mexico and International Centre for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA) in Tunisia, Olabanji said.

The executive director referred to the earlier work done on wheat in Nigeria, by saying that “for wheat research in LRCI, we have done a lot of work on the genetic improvement of wheat in Nigeria. The efforts will ensure that, by 2015, the quantity of wheat imported into Nigeria is reduced by half. This is to be achieved through aggressive production in 10 states of the North as disclosed this week during the official presentation at Abuja.”

Nigeria’s demand for wheat is 3.7 million metric tons annually, he said, but “by 2015, we should be able to achieve 50 percent of this national demand. And that will reduce the cost of importation by 50 percent. Presently, Nigeria is spending N635 billion every year for wheat importation.”

As part of the effort toward achieving the laudable goal, the executive director talked about strategies to harness the comparative advantage for wheat production in the North, saying “we have the potential to produce our own wheat. We have 600,000 hectares of land in this country that is suitable for wheat production, out of which only 10 percent of land in this area is utilised for wheat production. But, within this agricultural transformation agenda, we have proposed, for 2013 to 2014, to cultivate 150,000 hectares of land in the wheat-growing areas. These are 10 states in the Northern part of the country.”

On the varieties that would do well in Nigeria, he said “we have rain-fed wheat in Nigeria. And this rain-fed wheat is cultivated in Nigerian highlands. These Nigerian highlands are in Mambilla Plateau in Taraba State, Jos in Plateau State, and Obudu in Cross River State. These are potential areas for rain-fed wheat production. We have about 80,000 hectares area of land in these areas that are suitable for rain-fed wheat production.”

The work on wheat goes beyond mere field cultivation, he noted, but “with ATA, we emphasise value chain, not just producing the wheat. We have gone into processing our Nigerian wheat into flour. We also have recipes that are made from this wheat flour, like the bread. We have 100 percent Nigerian made bread. Our wheat flour is comparable, if not superior, to imported flour that we are clamouring for in Nigeria.”

Earlier, the minister commended the efforts of LCRI, pointing out that LCRI was the first among other agricultural research institutes to bring up products of research to his office. “What Olabanji has just shown is that Nigeria’s comparative advantage is not to be in consumption but that we can produce even the things we are importing,” the minister stated.

Expressing the hope that Nigeria will soon be self-sufficient in wheat production, Adesina said “all the way in the North – Borno, Yobe, Katsina, Kano, Zamfara, Sokoto states: in all those areas, we can produce wheat…. With all the wheat value chain that Nigeria has, we will be able, over a four-year period to produce 50 percent of the wheat it consumes.”

He promised to support the research institute and wheat transformation agenda, saying “Nigeria will not be a consumption centre. Nigeria must be self-sufficient in producing what it actually eats, so that it can reduce its dependency on others,” as “any nation that does not free itself from food import is a danger to its own very self.”

By: OLUYINKA ALAWODE