Nigeria may consider importation to meet wheat demand

Nigeria is likely to continue relying on imports during the 2017 marketing year as a result of limited production of major grain crops.

The combined importation of cereal crops such as wheat, rice and corn are expected to reach nearly 6.8 million tonnes, with wheat, having about 4.5 million tonnes.

Report from the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), Federal Agriculture Service (FAS) indicates that most of Nigeria’s wheat farmlands are rain-fed and insufficient to bring about increased production needed for self-sufficiency. Experts estimate that local wheat farmers will produce 60,000 tonnes of wheat.

The FAS notes that though the wheat variety produced by Nigerian farmers is high in protein content it is low in gluten, a characteristic that is unsuitable for producing the bread preferred by Nigerian consumers.

According to FAS “Bread is a major staple in Nigeria and it remains comparatively the less expensive staple eaten by majority of consumers despite a 20 per cent increase in price recorded over the past three months. However, given the falling currency and higher-than-normal market prices, consumers’ purchasing power has weakened, thereby preventing wheat millers to raise market prices to help offset production costs”.

As a result, the millers are forced to blend and adjust their wheat milling formulas to achieve bread flour that is acceptable to Nigerian bakers while maintaining favorable profit levels.

The FAS adds that while Wheat products, especially bread, will continue to be widely consumed in Nigeria as a major staple, consumption of pasta, noodles, and semolina are declining.