Analysts seek support for Nigerian millers, bakers, over wheat supply crisis

Local industry analysts have enjoined the Nigerian government to implement swift and deliberate actions to mitigate the impacts of the disruptions in the global wheat market on Nigeria’s wheat value chain.

The experts made the call in a recently published review of the global wheat market which they noted to be hampered by the ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine, the world’s largest exporters of the staple grain.

The review showed that the price of wheat in the global market jumped from $761.25 in January 2022 to $1,000 per bushel in March. In addition, it stated that local flour millers are forced to spend more on shipping the commodity from the exporting countries as their combined freight bill prediction jumped from N21.6 trillion in 2019 to N28.8 trillion in 2021.

The experts attributed the challenges affecting the commodity’s supply to include; a multifaceted value chain crises, shortage of foreign exchange, mounting freight charges, and hike in the price of diesel.

As a result, they noted that the millers and bakers have come under intense cost pressure as the price of the all-important grain continues to skyrocket in the international market, adding that the rising costs have consequently raised the hardship and cost of living index of the hard-pressed local consumers who continue to bear the burden of the price surges seen in wheat derivative foods and household staples.

According to the review, the upward trend in the global wheat and freights costs continues to frustrate the millers, who have for long borne the cost burden to keep the retail price stable and avoid passing on the costs to the poor consumers, who rely heavily on wheat-derivative foods such as bread, which remains a significant part of their daily diet, in feeding their households.

Citing urgent actions to be taken for Nigeria to avert production and major food inflation crisis, the experts proposed the wider adoption of the agriculture value chain intervention model developed by the Senegalese government.

The Senegal Agriculture Programme, it stated, provides access to key inputs such as seeds, fertilisers, and technical and marketing assistance for local smallholder farmers.

Other recommendations proposed by the analysts to help the millers, bakers, and consumers address the wheat supply and inflation crisis, are the removal of the 15 percent cassava levy imposed on the importation of wheat grain, increased access to forex at the Import and Export (I&E) window, allowance for tax concessions in line with the key backward integration programmes index, and the provision of logistic support, among others, to the millers.