On Tuesday in Kano, Technology for African Agricultural Transformation said that through research, steps had been taken to get started on manufacturing and exporting high yielding, heat-resistant wheat.
At the start of a two-day wheat training workshop, Dr. Oluwatoyin Adetunji, the Value Chain Expert at TAAT Clearinghouse, said that one goal of the event is to identify obstacles limiting the Nigerian wheat seed industry and propose methods to overcome them.
She claims that the workshop’s goal is to identify the obstacles that the Nigerian Wheat seed industry has, and that participants would come up with solutions to these problems through brainstorming.
In order to provide Nigerian farmers with sufficient, high-quality wheat seeds that are both accessible and inexpensive, TAAT has already started working to build a strong seed industry.
Adetunji bemoaned the fact that, as of now, Nigeria imports at least 95% of the wheat it consumes, a situation that has been and continues to deplete our foreign exchange.
He added that, in the not-too-distant future, Nigeria will start exporting high-quality wheat to other nations after intensifying its research programs on wheat.
In order to make Nigeria self-sufficient in wheat production and compete with Ethiopia and Sudan, which are both self-sufficient in wheat production, she listed the challenges currently facing TAAT, including those related to technology and financing, which she emphasized the workshop is directly addressing.
“Wheat is very significant and the most widely consumed food in the world since wheat is used to make bread, macaroni, spaghetti, masa, cuscus, and other foods.”
The workshop’s other goals include identifying the causes of seed mixtures along the seed value chain and the holes that need to be filled in the seed production process.
“Wheat is a significant commodity after rice in achieving food and nutrition security with a crucial function in supplying the essential raw material to the flour milling sector whose major baked output is bread and various confectioneries, ranging from biscuit, noodles, to semolina, among others.”
The importance of wheat has been rising significantly in recent decades due to the expanding population, shifting dietary choices, and increased urbanization, which has widened the gap between supply and demand.
The creation of irrigation systems in Northern Nigeria led to the beginning of commercial wheat production. According to the Nigerian Bureau of Statistics, the country’s yearly need for wheat is 5.78 million metric tons. 5 million metric tons per year separate national requirements/demand from output.
The government aims to raise wheat productivity from its current average of 3.0 t/ha to 5.0 t/ha, enhance domestic self-sufficiency in wheat from 5% to 50%, and increase production from 71,000 mt to 3.5 mt. Other goals include lowering post-harvest losses from the baseline level of 30% to 15% and raising the revenue of wheat farmers from the baseline level of N300,000/ha to N600,000/ha.
In conclusion, She claims that during the workshop, participants will collaborate to identify specific issues pertaining to their organizations. She also claims that the workshop will involve the exchange of technical knowledge on how to develop the seed sector for efficiency and effectiveness.
Source: punchÂ
