Olam, an
agribusiness conglomerate and parent company of Crown Flour Mill Limited, a top
flour milling firm in Nigeria, is set to hold the second edition of its wheat
value chain knowledge-sharing and development event. Tagged the Olam Green Land
Webinar Series, the second edition of the industrywide consultative event is
themed “Rethinking wheat farming in Nigeria - Seeds I Research I
Partnerships”. The event will hold virtually on November 24, 2021.
To Register Now: Click HERE
The wheat
value chain development event is part of the organisation’s wheat value chain
intervention programmes targeted at helping the Federal Government achieve its
national food security, food production self-sufficiency and employment
generation agenda. As the country grapples with galloping staple food prices
and as consumers contend with shrinking income levels and purchasing power, the
wheat value chain event is aimed at galvanizing key stakeholders and stimulating
useful discourse that will proffer suitable, actionable and measurable
solutions to the national wheat production challenge and self-sufficiency aspiration.
Speaking about
the upcoming event, Ashish Pande, the Managing Director of Crown Flour Mill
Limited, said, “Olam is committed to helping Nigeria achieve food production
self-sufficiency in the agricultural sector. The second edition of the webinar
is coming on the heels of an extensive research that culminated in the launch
of our N300 million (US $750,000) 10-year community-based seed enterprises project
aimed at fostering Nigeria’s wheat production capabilities.”
To Register Now: Click HERE
He added: “By
focusing conversations on critical areas of research, development of suitable
seed varieties and strategic partnerships, it is possible to accelerate the
local wheat production capacity and remove the bottlenecks in local production."
Speaking
further, Pande stated: "The move is critical at this moment as the efforts
will ultimately strengthen the nation’s food security position, sustain the
creation of jobs by the wheat value chain and help achieve the targeted agriculture-led
economic development agenda of the Federal Government.”
The CFM boss
said the webinar is going to deep-dive into crucial developmental issues to
generate suitable solutions from a host of experienced guest speakers and
panellists.
The special
guest for the webinar series is Muhammad Abubakar, The Honourable Minister of
Agriculture and Rural Development while the keynote speaker is Tiberio Chiari
who is the former manager of the Agricultural Value Chains
Programme in Oromia, Ethiopia (the overarching Ethio-Italian development
cooperation programme). Ethiopia is a country
regarded as the centre of diversity for durum wheat in Africa and so, the
country’s learnings and experiences will be invaluable to Nigeria. Sall Amadou
Tidiane, a Senior Scientist, Senegalese Institute for Agricultural Research
(ISRA), is a guest speaker.
To Register Now: Click HERE
The event panelists
include Mr Stephen Ambore, Wheat Champion, Central Bank of Nigeria; Alhaji
Munir Babba Dan Agundi, Chairman, House Committee on Agricultural Colleges and
Institutions, Nigeria’s House of Representatives; Mrs Karima Babangida,
Director, Federal Department of Agriculture, Federal Ministry of Agriculture
and Rural Development (FMARD); Alhaji Salim Saleh Muhammad, National President,
Wheat Farmers Association of Nigeria (WFAN); Sarah Hubber, Head of Wheat
Development Programme, Flour Milling Association of Nigeria (FMAN) and Dr
Alhassan Bibinu, Executive Director, Lake Chad Research Institute (LCRI).
Others are Dr Zakari Turaki, Director of Research, LCRI; Dr Kachalla Kyari Mala,
Project Lead Researcher/ Principal Research Officer, LCRI; and Dr Filippo
Bassi, Project Scientist/ Senior Scientist, International Centre for
Agricultural Research in Dry Areas (ICARDA).
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