The wheat
value chain continues to play key roles in providing employments for the active
segment of the population while strengthening the nation’s food security
position. The jobs and the affordable meals that are being delivered to the
local markets through the bold developmental actions pursued by the local wheat
millers couldn’t have come at a better time as Nigeria’s unemployment situation
and inflationary trends grow agonizingly worse.
Data released
by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) indicates that unemployment,
underemployment and youth unemployment/ underemployment, reached 33.3 %, 22.8 %,
42.5% respectively in the 4th quarter of 2020 in the country. Meanwhile, the
increasing dietary shift to more affordable wheat derivative foods such as
bread, semolina, pasta and noodles has led to expanded production, processing, warehousing,
distribution/ logistics, fleet management, last mile and retailing activities
in the wheat value chain, consequently lifting the employment generating
capacity of the value chain from 10 million to 12 million.
Coming at such
a crucial time when the impact of COVID-19 pandemic incessantly weakens the
economic contributory latency of other sectors, the robust activities being
generated along the wheat value chain are a rare lift for Nigerian households.
The wheat
value chain does not only provide jobs for the population, it also ensures the
population has consistent access to affordable quality foods. In the past one
year, the prices of Rice, Garri, millet and Beans, which are notable national
staples, have risen sharply by 21.1%, 114.1%, 57.2% and 66.6%, respectively,
while the prices of wheat derivative foods have been largely cushioned from the
adverse inflationary trend by local millers. The flour milling companies, under
the aegis of the Flour Milling Association of Nigeria (FMAN), and the bakers, intentionally
absorb the extra cost of production occasioned by the tough operating
environment, in order to keep feeding the population.
Take for
instance bread, a widely consumed staple food produced from wheat. The wheat
millers continue to ensure that while other food commodities increased in price
by 50% and more in the past year, bread is shielded from such debilitating
trend, increasing by just 28.5% and the average daily production output of 10
million loaves is maintained. To this end, bread has traditionally become
the cheapest carbohydrate option available for Nigerians.
The
availability of quality flour brands at competitive prices helps the bakers to
maintain production level, forgo downsizing and help meet customers demands,
despite the adverse effects of the COVID-19 outbreak. Bakers therefore understand
the importance of the millers’ intervention efforts.
How did the
flour millers achieve such an important economic balancing act? The flour
millers intentionally track commodity prices in the carbohydrate food staple
space to keep the price of inputs for bread production competitive. The same
goes for every other wheat derivative food such as semolina, noodles and pasta,
which the flour millers intentionally ensure are kept within affordable price
boundaries of the consumers.
Global
consulting firm, KPMG, attests to the important roles played by flour millers
in feeding a national population that has over the years been priced out of the
other staple foods due to continuous food price inflation, spike in the
unemployment rate and a declining income level.
In a report
themed ‘Wheat-based consumer foods in Nigeria’, KPMG underscored the fact that
the flour milling businesses that operate in Nigeria have been a source of
“low-cost convenient staple and baked foods” for the teeming
population.
This also
explains why 45% of the food variants served in Nigerian homes are produced
from wheat. As more foods are being served to nourish, sustain and strengthen
the Nigerian populace, by direct correlation, more jobs are also being created
by the wheat millers and the wheat value chain.
Speaking on
the employment-generating and food security roles played by the wheat value
chain, Mr Ashish Pande, Managing Director of Crown Flour Mill (CFM) Limited, a
subsidiary of Olam, an agribusiness conglomerate, said: “Presently, the wheat
value chain accounts for over 10.5 million jobs generated annually in Nigeria.
This of course has placed the wheat value chain at the centre of the various
economic development agenda of the Federal Government of Nigeria.”
To reiterate
the nutritional and economic contributions of flour millers, Ashish expatiated
further, “Presently, the wheat value chain adds N2.3 trillion to Nigeria’s GDP
annually, being the average yearly spend on wheat derivative foodstuffs; and accounts
for 75 million of the daily food portions in Nigerian households.”
He said, “To
scale up its contributions, the milling association continues to invest N500
million annually in seed trials, research, training of smallholder wheat
farmers and reimbursing the various farming research institutes in the country
to ensure that the current local production levels of wheat improve
significantly. While these efforts have ensured that we keep providing
affordable and quality food for the growing Nigeria population, it has also deepened
the rate of jobs generated for the young and active of the population.”
Similarly,
Professor Adetunji Kehinde, provost of the College of Agriculture, University
of Osun, provided an insight into the robust activities that keep turning out
the impressive job creation rates in the wheat value chain.
He said, “Like
other agro-products, the wheat value chain has created and is still creating
employment at the pre-production (procurement of loan for land, labour, and
training), production (seed procurement to field management till harvesting
time), harvest (methods, tools, labour, and transport) and postharvest
(handling, storage, processing, and milling), preservation, packaging,
distribution and marketing levels. The wheat milling industry is one of the
most important drivers of employment in the food sector.”
Considering
the contributory role that the wheat value chain plays in employment generation
and food security, all hands must be on deck to support flour millers, in their
current efforts to strengthen the all-important value chain. Formulating and
implementing a developmental agro and financing policy framework that would
ensure that flour millers continue to access wheat would help maintain the key
roles of providing affordable staple foods and employment for the Nigerian
population. This should be the focus of the Federal Government and relevant
agencies and key stakeholders, especially at this challenging period.
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