Poor local processing shoots up maize importsAs manufacturers avoid diseased stock

Increasing demand for well-processed maize in the last two years has resulted in a huge increase in the importation of the commodity into Nigeria.

This greater demand for maize is driven by an expanding local poultry industry, itself being fed by a growing middleclass, serviced by a chain of high brow mega stores matching global standards, which buy locally produced chickens and other birds.

Mainly responsible for the increased import of maize, stakeholders say, are poor local processing and storage which leave volumes of the commodity unsuitable for quality poultry feed manufacture. One curious aspect of the growing maize importation process though, is that much of the incoming commodity is falsely labeled as other products, despite the fact that maize is not on the import prohibition list of the Nigerian Customs Service.

The ban on the commodity imposed in 2005 to boost local production, was lifted in 2008 due to maize scarcity, yet most of the maize importation is done through the back door. An in¬formed government source says the importers, many of whom are large farms and livestock feeds as well as food manufacturers, fear that the huge volumes of maize import might spur government to impose a ban on the commodity. Sources at the Apapa port also confirmed that imported maize is often falsely labelled. Therefore, the importation of maize does not usually reflect in the shipping position, except on very irregular basis.

Maize is also traded informally through Nigeria’s borders with neighbouring countries. Since so many traders are unsure that the ban on maize importation has since been lifted, the commodity is usually ‘smuggled’ into the country. As a result, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) which carries out comprehensive research on food production and importation in various countries, says figures on the quantity of maize imported into Nigeria in recent years are not available. FAO reports however attest to the fact that Nigeria is a net importer of maize and that there is informal trading of maize (import and export) going on be¬tween Nigeria and neighbouring countries.

Edobong Akpabio, a farmer and consultant, attributes the informal importation of maize to insecurity in some parts of the north in very recent years, which made many farmers abandon their farmlands and go to neighbouring countries such as Niger, Mali and Chad to farm.

The maize yields of these farmers are then brought into Nigeria through informal channels. She said, “the problem of logistics between north and south has always been there, even before the Boko Haram insurgency, and the suppliers of these commodities have always factored these costs into their prices. They also factor in additional costs from bribes given to security officials to allow free passage along the way.”

Akpabio stressed, “The real issue is the insecurity. Also, the floods in 2011 and 2012 contributed to the problem. The effect of flooding is ending, and hopefully with the chief of defence staff’s promise, insecurity in the northern part will end by April.”

Most farmers say the solution to this problem is the development of the maize value chain by investors who can purchase large quantities of maize from local farmers and take up the business of proper processing and storage of the commodity, to end the scarcity of quality maize.

Another solution is the expected release of maize variety resistant to mycotoxins (Aflatoxin), a disease of maize, by the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) by 2015. Silvestro Meseka, a maize breeder at IITA said recently in Ogun state “Aflatoxin is a poison which causes liver cancer, suppresses the immune system and retards growth and development in children. We are seeing a situation in the next two years, we should be able to present to the nation that we have developed aflatoxin resistant maize for Nigeria. ”

He adds, “Aflatoxin contamination can occur before harvest when the crop undergoes drought stress, due to elevated temperatures at the grain filling stages and when wet conditions occur at harvest periods. Contamination also occurs when there is insect damage, delayed harvesting and high moisture levels during storage and transportation.”

So, for best practices in poultry production, farmers with under¬standing and wherewithal, go all out to source maize that is free of these diseases. According to Foramifera, a market research firm, maize demand annually in Nigeria is 8.5 million metric tonnes, while the country produces just 7 million metric tonnes yearly.

Every year, before the harvest of the first maize around June, the prices of processed maize increases by almost 50 percent. In previous years, maize went from around N60,000 per tonne to N90,000 and N100,000 at the wet season. Currently, the price of maize is N65,000 and there is apprehension that it may go as high as N100,000 by the middle of this year. Nigeria is the largest producer of maize in West Africa and 10th largest in the world