There are efforts to boost the supply of wheat and soyabean, two of the nation’s most important crops for the livestock and food sectors despite failing rain supply in most of the North.
Most of the wheat and soyabean cultivation in the North, the largest production belt, are carried out in Kebbi and Kano states and from irrigated areas.
Demand for Soyabean should not be less than 1.0 million tonnes yearly in 2020-21 because of the increases in domestic feed demand and soy oil needs.
United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) noted that soyabean production and imports in Nigeria would continue to rise as the demand for the oilseed expand for both food and feed use.
USDA had forecast Nigeria’s soyabean consumption to reach 1.275 million tonnes.
Analysts said soybean meal is a major component of oilseed meal used for aqua and animal feed.
An analyst told The Nation that soybean production was growing, though insecurity is still making it tough for farmers to increase their acreage.
But to boost wheat production, Flour Milling Association of Nigeria (FMAN) is establishing procurement centres across northern states to take wheat grains from up to 150,000 farmers under the CBN Anchor Borrowers’ Programme (ABP).
Also, OCP Nigeria Fertilisers is working with the Lake Chad Research Institute (LCRI), Institute of Agricultural Research and Training (IART), and Bayero University Kano (BUK) to raise develop specialty fertiliser.
According to stakeholders, Nigeria’s wheat production was 55,000 tons in 2020, which they described as dismal to boost economic growth.
Head of Agronomy, OCP Nigeria Fertilisers Limited, Dr Donald Madukwe, said the institutes were working on validation trails for the specialty fertiliser.
So far, the new fertiliser formulation has been tested on farmer’s fields invalidation trials in a large number of locations. The goal, according to him, is to get farmers who plant improved wheat varieties and follow recommended agronomic practices to harvest more tons per hectare in high-potential wheat-growing areas.
He explained that the new specialized fertiliser when formally launched would reach a high number of farmers thanks to effective teamwork between the various stakeholders.
He added that private companies will be invited to produce the new fertiliser formulation in order to bring the benefits to farming communities.
OLAM Nigeria in conjunction with the FMAN had also invested in extensive research programs, seed testing, backward integration programmes, and training initiatives for wheat smallholder farmers.
Olam Nigeria, through its subsidiary Crown Flour Mill Limited (CFM), launched a N300 million 10-year wheat seed trial project aimed at setting up community seed enterprises for farmers to increase their production and address the development gap in the wheat value chain.
The seeds trial project is expected to focus on experimenting with new heat-tolerant varieties of wheat seeds and adopting a community-based seed enterprise and participatory strategy that has recorded a level of success in select West African countries and dry areas in Western Africa.