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Dr. Oluwasina Olabanji, a former Executive Director of the Lake Chad Research Institute (LCRI) has stressed the need for increased private sector investment in wheat production in the country.
Olabanji in an interview pointed out that though some companies are already stepping in but that there is a need for government’s support.
He said that the government must create an enabling environment for the private sector to thrive in wheat production, stressing that the importance of collaboration between public and private entities cannot be over emphasised.
He also called for more government investment in research and development, noting that many successful agricultural countries enjoyed heavy government funding and support.
Speaking further Olabanji said that the decline recorded in the wheat production can be attributed to government’s policy summersaults
He said that the country would have surpassed the present productivity level if not for policies inconsistency on the part of government since over a decade, stressing that Nigeria’s major challenge has been policy inconsistency in wheat production
He said that if the country has maintained the production output recorded in 2012 to 2016 when it increased from 70,000 metric tons to 450,000 metric tons, Nigeria could have achieved about 50 percent self-sufficiency in wheat production by now.
“Unfortunately, policy changes brought by new subsequent governments have overruled the Agricultural Transformation Agenda, and the de-prioritization of wheat value chains.
He thereby acknowledged improvements under the current administration, especially with the recent 2023/2024 dry season wheat farming, which he noted that more must be done to meet Nigeria’s wheat production targets.
He said that the government had projected cultivating 270,000 hectares, but the actual area cultivated fell short, but that he is optimistic that the upcoming 2024/2025 season will meet the target of 250,000 hectares.
He said that Nigeria can potentially harvest 700,000 metric tons of wheat with proactive political will.
