Shipment of three different grains have gulped N879 billion ($2.44 billion) from Nigeria importers in the last one year.
The amount was spent on rice, maize and wheat in 2018.
It was gathered that the country spent $1.1billion (N401 billion) to import 99 per cent or 5.5 million tons of wheat in the period as production remained static at 60,000 tons.
Also, 44 per cent or three million tons of rice consumed in the country was imported at the cost of $1.2 billion (N434 billion), while domestic production rose to 4.78 million tons in 2018.
Similarly, it was gathered that 400,000 tons or four per cent of maize valued at$146.8 billion (N52.8 billion) despite the 11 million tons produced locally.
Import data from a global trade portal, Index Mundi, revealed that instead of downward reduction in the 2.1 million tons of rice recorded in 2015, the country imported three million tons of the grains as at December, 2018.
The trade portal added that domestic consumption had climbed to 7.4 million tons in 2018 from 7.1 million tons in 2017.
Worried by the huge amount spent yearly on rice importation, the Federal Government has moved to attract N250 billion investment in rice production.
The investment in the grain is to boost domestic production by establishing an additional 14 rice mills in the country.
Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Chief Audu Ogbeh, had said in 2018 that most of the investment would come from Thailand, following reduction in rice importation from the country.
Already, 21 large integrated rice mills had started running in the country with a total annual processing capacity of 1.22 million metric tons yearly.Some of the mills are owned by Dangote, Stallion Group, Olam, Milan, Golden Penny Rice and Wicklow Group, among others.Also, it was gathered that Nigeria had become a massive market for wheat flour, serving some flour milling companies such as Flour Mills of Nigeria, Honeywell Flour Mills and Dangote Flour Mills as they prefer to import the grain where they can obtain higher returns.Already, United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) forecasts Nigeria’s total wheat consumption in 2018-19 to increase four per cent from last year’s figure to 5.06 million tons.It attributed the uptick to an increase in imports combined with a rise in food, seed and industrial use.Meanwhile, the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development’s statistics had revealed that the country’s domestic demand for maize had reached 15.5 million metric tons.Last year, the […]
