Nigeria’s importation of wheat costs about $2 billion annually, thereby exerting pressure on the country’s food import bill, the Central Bank of Nigeria has said.
The wheat is the country’s second-highest contributor with over five million Metric Tons (MT) imported yearly.
The apex bank however, restated its commitment to addressing the existing challenges in the wheat value chain as part of efforts to shore up the country’s foreign reserves.
This was made known by the CBN Director, Development Finance Department, Mr. Philip Yila Yusuf, at the Wheat Conference and Stakeholder Engagement, with the theme: “Improving and Sustaining the Wheat Value Chain Development in Nigeria,” in Abuja.
He noted that the wheat value chain had enormous potential for ground-breaking impact in the agricultural sector, adding that the central bank would focus attention on the commodity value chain for 2021/2022 dry season planting following the sustainable progress made across the rice and maize value chain.
The CBN director, further estimated that only one per cent or 63,000MT of wheat, out of the 5-6 MT consumed annually, was produced locally.
He said the CBN intervention had become critical due to the high demand for wheat in the country as well as the inability to meet that demand.
He said, “The CBN plans to address key problems in the value chain through financing massive production of wheat in Nigeria and seeks to facilitate sustained availability of high yield seed variety in country and improve general productivity.”