With an estimated population of 200 million, Nigeria has a considerable consumption rate of bread and other bakery products. Foods with wheat components are being considered a critical alternative to conventional additions such as flour. Currently, meeting the demand for bread is becoming a challenge as a result of the soaring wheat prices. Stakeholders are searching for cheaper alternatives because of the international disruption of the wheat market and rising inflation. DANIEL ESSIET reports.
In the yesteryear, an average Nigerian family could afford tea and bread as their preferred breakfast menu. That was when bread, a major component of each breakfast was cheap.
Also then, ingredients with which bread was baked, such as flour, sugar and butter, among others, were somewhat inexpensive.
With N500, a family could buy bread, liquid milk (peak or carnation milk, peak condensed milk, sugar and any other item necessary for each breakfast. That was at that time.
Then and there, it appeared outlandish to see a family that eats garri and soup in the morning; as it will be regarded as being poor.
However, the breakfast culture continues.
Every family, in a bid to remain counted as part of those who take tea and bread as a morning food, will manage to buy Agege Buredi (a low-quality, chaff-like bread), Lipton tea, N50 tie-tie sugar and sachet milk and they have taken a sumptuous breakfast.
Bread, the main component of morning food is getting beyond the reach of the common man. People find alternatives in wheat to flour since consumers use baked foods for breakfast to support the city’s lifestyles of always being on the go.
From workers to retirees, people find it convenient to flock to eateries for snacks. Wheat is recognised as a quality ingredient for the production of a wide variety of bread, noodle and other snacks.
This has engendered the trend of consuming wheat-related products that are fast proliferating in the food businesses.
Bread is a major product from wheat. Its consumption has been very high for Nigeria; with producers grappling with the challenges to source supply for the production of other derivatives such as biscuits, cupcakes, pastries and brownies.
Demand for bread has made Nigeria the largest market for wheat imports. Global wheat prices shot higher following the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Nigeria is a wheat importer; buying more than 70 per cent of its wheat from abroad. Traders source for supply from the United States, Canada and Ukraine.
They are now scrambling to source supplies from elsewhere as the war in Ukraine and sanctions on Russia continue.
Analysts say Nigerians’ demand for wheat is pushing for increased importation with a supply gap of nearly five million metric tons, which cannot be provided through local supply.
Demand is growing at an unprecedented rate. This is because of population growth and a preference for wheat products.
A study by KPMG attributed the growth in wheat demand to manufacturers’ use of wheat-based foods such as flour, pasta, semolina, noodles and wheat meal.
According to the study, the size of the Nigerian biscuit segment has been estimated at N121 billion, having grown at an annual growth rate of 16 per cent in the past five years.
Data by the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development said the 420,000 metric tons of wheat produced in Nigeria last year was grossly inadequate to meet the increase in demand.
Data sources accessed by The Nation have shown growing imports in the past six years.
For instance, Knoema, an international research firm, stated that the country’s wheat import quantity increased from 350,000 tons in 1971 to 650,000 tons in 2020; growing at an average yearly rate of 10.21 per cent.
In its report, Knoema noted that Nigeria imported 6.5 million tons of wheat last year. In 2020, the report said Nigeria was among the 15 countries that imported the highest dollar-value worth of wheat.
In Africa, Egypt and Nigeria imported the largest amount of wheat. Egypt imported $2.7 billion (5.7 per cent of total imported wheat), and Nigeria‘s value of imported wheat stood at $2.06 billion (4.3 per cent) of the global total.
Since 2019, Nigeria’s imports were up by 62.3 per cent, while Morocco increased by 48.2 per cent.
Only one per cent of the 4.7 million tons of annual wheat Nigeria needs, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, is produced locally.
Last year, bread prices surged by as much as three times. According to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), bread prices rose by about 35 per cent between May 2021 and May 2022 due to rising food inflation.
Since July, the prices of bread have risen tremendously. Pint-sized bread sold for N200 about two months ago now goes for N250. The medium-sized bread which sold for N500 now goes for N600.
High prices have raised worries as producers are not able to secure enough supplies from the international market. As wheat prices soar, food producers look for cheaper alternatives.
In search of alternatives, bakers have resorted to using orange-fleshed potato (OFP) puree to supplement wheat flour when making snacks and bread. Generally, OFP is rich in bio-carotene, a vitamin “A” substance that helps in fighting diabetes.
As wheat prices have been driven upward by the war in Ukraine, bakers in Ivory Coast are beginning to use locally-produced cassava flour to bake bread.
A report said the baguette, the stick of bread, is commonly seen as a benchmark of the cost of living. Ivory Coast does not produce wheat domestically. It imports up to a million tons of grain per year, mainly from France.
Surging wheat prices, a report said, have stoked concern about the impact in a country of 25 million where the average wage is less than 250,000 CFA francs ($400) per month, and which was shaken by a wave of violence less than two years ago.
Bakers, with the government’s support, are also beginning to substitute a small portion of wheat flour with flour from cassava. A report indicates that cassava, also called manioc, is Ivory Coast’s second-largest crop after yam, with 6.4 million tons produced each year.
As it ticks the boxes for economy and sustainability, people are beginning to accept bread made with local cassava flour and the national consumers’ confederation has reportedly thrown its support behind the cassava substitute.
As in Nigeria, consumers are grappling with the image and taste. Similar to Nigerians, Ivoirians associate bread made with cassava with poor quality.
The other issue was a 2014 study in Nigeria that a high proportion of cassava flour lowers the mineral and protein contents in bread, compared with traditional wheat.
This notwithstanding, the National Council for the Fight against the High Cost of Living (CNLCV) is canvassing for increased use of local alternatives to reduce dependence on wheat imports.
Concerns in West Africa about dependence on imported wheat are not confined to Ivory Coast. It is being felt across the sub-region. Wheat-based products have seen a steady price increase in Senegal, Ghana and the rest of the countries that make up the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS).
In Nigeria, the recent increase of about 20 per cent in the price of bread, has led to a high cost of living. Premium Bread-Makers’ Association of Nigeria (PBAN) threatened to halt bread production over what the association claimed as an almost impossible situation to operate a bakery. The President of the association, Emmanuel Onuorah lamented that bakers were contending with the Federal Government’s 15 per cent wheat development levy on wheat import, the inability of bakers to access soft loans from the CBN to Micro, Small and Medium Scale Enterprises and multi-agencies regulations of the bread-making industry, among others.
According to him, many bakers had been forced to shut down operations due to the increase in the cost of doing business.
Onuorah also urged the Federal Government to open up a forex window for industry players, particularly the flour millers. This, he said, would considerably address the indiscriminate increase in the prices of flour in the market.
Currently, flour is about N32, 000 a bag. A bag of flour, sold between N8, 000 and N10, 300 before the COVID-19 pandemic. Industry players say the record spike in the price of wheat is a major problem facing the baking industry.
Currently, flour millers are grappling with the increasing production cost and low wheat cultivation. It is the rising costs that have been passed down to the bakers, who are battling to stay afloat.
The Director and Head of the Department of Food Technology, Federal Institute of Industrial Research (FIIRO), Oshodi Dr Oluwatoyin Bolanle Oluwole is one of the scientists working to ensure that the ripple effects of the Russia-Ukraine war on wheat flour prices are reduced through the resurrection of the cassava bread initiative.
The initiative targeted a 40 per cent inclusion of composite cassava flour in bread production to reduce Nigeria’s import bill on wheat and also help grow the cassava value chain.
She said there was a high potential gain in incorporating high-quality cassava flour into wheat flour for the production of bread and confectionery products. She added that bakers would make more profits from the inclusion.
She said: “A 50kg bag of wheat costs about N34, 000 depending on the brand while a bag of cassava costs N20, 000. What we did was majorly recipe manipulation. You are not going to change your equipment used for 100 per cent wheat flour. There will be more job opportunities for those that venture into cassava processing.”
Stakeholders such as the Managing Director of Spectra Industries Limited Lagos, Mr Durodola Omolewa Kuteyi have called for the reintroduction of HQCF in bread production to help the country to save foreign exchange.
ICSAN and FIIRO have trained 100 master bakers and private confectioners in cassava flour inclusion for bread production. The usage of 10 per cent high-quality cassava flour and 90 per cent wheat flour were displayed to the participants at the workshop.
The President of ICSAN, Mr Segun Ladele said the inclusion of 10 per cent of high-quality cassava flour in bread production would save the country about two billion dollars on wheat importation.
He urged the Federal Government to promote the initiative, stressing that the process would reduce the price of bread.
He raised concerns over their inability to access loans. He noted that even though the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), commercial banks and microfinance banks have funding programmes, they are usually burdened by administrative and process challenges that make access difficult.
According to him, financing is available with CBN and other financial institutions; there are barriers to getting access, high-interest rates, short tenure, and often strident conditions.
He said: “The CBN Governor said over 20 billion dollars is spent on wheat importation every year. So, if 10 per cent is spent on cassava, we will be saving lot of funds. About two billion dollars will be saved on the importation of wheat.
“The flour millers are also lamenting that the price of wheat flour is very high and we can see the result from the bread we eat these days. Bread is very expensive now because of our failure to include cassava in wheat for bread production.
“We need help and support from the CBN to increase capacity. The market is there already; all we need to do is increase production and we need the support of the CBN to achieve that feat.”
Ladele called on stakeholders in the sector to embrace the inclusion of cassava in bread production, adding that there should be synergy between the bakers and the cassava processors.
According to him, Nigeria is the largest producer of cassava in the world and produces about 60 million tons of cassava yearly. The potential is still untapped.
He said if the inclusion of cassava in bread-making is embraced, it would lead to a 15 to 20 per cent reduction in the price of bread.
“The war between Russia and Ukraine affects everybody and it is going to put pressure on the current situation if you are looking at 10 per cent of cassava flour inclusion for bread-making.”
The Director-General of FIIRO, Dr Jummai Adamu said cassava remains the major solution to food security and industrial development of Nigeria.
Adamu, who was represented by the Director of Extension and Linkage, Dr Dele Oyeku said FIIRO researchers have not only confirmed that HQCF inclusion in wheat flour even up to 30 per cent, was safe but also its benefits were also outstanding.
She listed the benefits to include economic, foreign exchange savings, wealth creation, job creation and growth of the non-oil sector.
“I pray that the legislation of cassava flour inclusion in wheat flour for bread and confectioneries baking is realised to justify the inputs of all stakeholders. We hope that the current efforts in the legislation of wheat cassava composite bread will sail through the National Assembly and be signed into law,” she said.
The Secretary-General of the Industrial Cassava Stakeholders’ Association of Nigeria (ICSAN), Dr Tope Aroge said members of the association have been working to improve the increased use of high-quality cassava flour in bread.
He said the association was taking advantage of the abundant supply of cassava to produce HQCF that flour millers and master bakers can utilise instead of involving in wheat importation which will impact negatively the country’s scarce foreign exchange.
He reiterated that there was enough scienti?c evidence for the effectiveness of using cassava ?our in bread. The potential bene?ts of using cassava ?our in bread-making, according to him, include a reduction of dependence on wheat imports, foreign exchange savings, an increase in farmers’ incomes, a reduction of food insecurity and a boost of rural development by promoting cassava production.