The African Development Bank (AfDB) is set to reduce the importation of the wheat in Nigeria by 40% by 2023.
According to the Ms Beth Dunford, AfDB’s Vice President, Agriculture, Human and Social Development, the mission will be achieved through the wheat production technology being supported by the Bank in Nigeria, that aims to boost wheat production in the country.
According to Dunford, the technology is presently being used in Nigeria, where it is being cultivated on 87,000 hectares, with the potential to expand to 250,000 hectares this season. She stated that the Bank was now trying to determine how much of the money will be awarded to each country, emphasizing that the fund was open to all countries on the continent. The assistance aimed at smallholder farmers would help them increase production.
Wheat technology
“This is the basis of the 1.5 billion dollars Africa Emergency Food Production Facility that was just approved by the Board. This facility will be supporting the African government to reach 20 million farmers with improved technologies like the heat-tolerant wheat to produce 38 million tonnes of food on the continent,” she said.
“We will do this in an emergency way to scale up production to mitigate crisis in a way that will provide the foundation for agricultural transformation, to drive economies and sustain livelihoods in Africa and Nigeria. Every country is eligible but we are working on that now but again, building on the work that is already on-going in Nigeria to scale up quickly,” added Ms Beth.
She stated that heat-tolerant wheat technology would have a significant influence on food and assist farmers in increasing production. It will be will be adapted to local conditions needed in each context like in flood, heat.
”We will be working across different crops, technologies across the country in different states, given that two-third of the people in Africa depend on agriculture for their livelihood. It is not just the farmers but those within the food system, it could be the processors, transporters, and aggregators. The whole agriculture economy fuels the livelihood of the economy in the continent so if this sector is suffering, everybody suffers. There is a big connection to poverty but the growth of the agricultural sector is on track with the launch of many agricultural transformation projects in the continent by the Bank,’’ she said.
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