F imports resumed whilst local wheat production volumes fell drastically to just about 50,000MT/annum. Over the last one to two years, Mr Fadipe pointed to the fact that, “there have been a lot of government efforts to see how we can go back to develop wheat farming again including the launch of ‘The Green Alternative’ with the objective being to see grains that we can focus on as Nigerians to develop, encourage and create incentives for local farmers. They are also putting tariffs on levels of imports to discourage and make it more expensive.” Today, wheat production is growing “so much so” that the flour millers of Nigeria have had to sign a ‘Memorandum of Understanding’ with the farmers. The conditions of this agreement include all wheat produced by Nigerian farmers being bought at an agreed price. As an example of demonstrating the areas in which the government has taken steps to support local farmers and to encourage the millers to support them, Mr Fadipe reminded the audience, “there is currently a total prohibition on the importation of spaghetti, noodles and cassava flour into Nigeria.” He added that the farmers are also encouraged to develop different varieties of wheat, which are suited to local climates.
EU and Black Sea take over from US and Canada
Nigeria remains one of the largest importers of wheat annually and over the last decade, “the imports have grown by 30 percent.” Although, Mr Fadipe drew the delegates’ attention to the fact that, “imports from the US have decreased so much by about 50 percent between 2011-2015 because people are looking at wheat origins that are cheaper, so you can see that we are favoring the Black Sea because prices drive decisions.” He stated that in the last three years, “we have experienced
some serious economic challenges as a country so it has been very expensive bringing in products from developed countries, and that wheat quality from the Black Sea has improved, with cheaper shipping rates too. The Federal Government of Nigeria has done a lot to encourage importation from some of these countries because apart from the product price, you also have to apply the duty rate so it makes it more difficult. So even though the Nigerian import market for wheat is growing, the dominance of imports from the US and Canada have clearly been taken over by The EU and Black Sea origin.”
What tomorrow may bring
Mr Fadipe presented that there are likely to be more mergers and acquisitions leading to fewer players whilst there will also be entry of foreign players from Asia and Europe with huge capital flow. He added that there would be “a lot of backward integration as well”.
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