The Minister of Agriculture and Food Security, Hon. Abubakar Kyari has said that deliberate efforts are essential to enhance local wheat production, as part of measures to ensure food and nutrition security.
He made the remarks at the inaugural Regional Wheat Summit 2023 with the theme ‘Unscaling Investments in the Wheat Value Chain in West and Central Africa’, organised by the West and Central Africa Collaborative Wheat Network (WECA-WhEAT) on Monday in Abuja.
Represented by Engr. Garba Abubakar, the minister noted that dependence on imports is unsustainable, especially considering our national requirement of approximately 6m tonnes annually.
Kyari said that the Nigerian wheat industry has encountered challenges, evident in substantial wheat imports totaling six billion dollars from 2016 to 2020.