By Abubakar Yunusa
The African Development Bank (AfDB) said West and Central Africa’s overdependence on wheat imports, warning that this reliance poses a significant threat to the region’s food security.
The Bank highlighted that over 80% of the wheat consumed in West and Central Africa is imported, costing billions of dollars annually.
Akinwumi Adesina, President of the African Development Bank, stated this at the second Regional Wheat Summit 2024 in Abuja, organized by the West and Central African Wheat Development Network (WECAWheat), in Abuja on Wednesday.
The summit, themed “Prioritising Policy, Innovation, Technologies, and Investments in Wheat Transformation Towards Sustainable Food Security and Economy in West and Central Africa,” brought together key stakeholders in the agricultural sector to address this issue.
Represented by the Director General of the Nigeria Country Department, Dr Abdul Kamara, Adesina said, “This dependency undermines food security, regional self-sufficiency, and economic stability.”
He emphasized the transformative potential of the wheat sector in the region.
“Transforming West and Central Africa’s wheat sector offers immense potential for sustainable food security and economic growth.”
He added that achieving this transformation would require comprehensive policy reforms, innovative technologies, and strategic investments.
“Low yields, inadequate inputs, poor infrastructure, and inconsistent policies exacerbate this issue,” Adesina stated.
The AfDB also highlighted a sharp rise in wheat consumption across Africa.
“Two decades ago, Africa’s total wheat consumption was around 25 million metric tonnes. This figure has surged to over 75 million metric tonnes,” he noted.
He attributed this growth to Africa’s rapidly increasing population, which has risen from 0.9 billion to 1.5 billion over the past two decades and is projected to reach 2.5 billion by 2050.
Adeshina further underscored the role of technology in transforming agricultural productivity, citing India’s example as a case in point.
“India’s adaptation of innovative technologies transformed its agricultural sector from subsistence farming in the 1960s to a food-secure, technologically advanced, and globally competitive nation.”
He emphasized that the application of agricultural technologies, when supported by appropriate policies, could help West and Central African farmers overcome challenges such as climate change, limited access to finance, and post-harvest losses.
“Agriculture technology can thus help advance food security in sustainable ways in the region,” he said.
Earlier in his remarks, Regional Director of WheatCan, Professor Benjamin Ewa Ubi, revealing that Nigeria alone consumed 6.06 million metric tonnes of wheat in 2023, while domestic production was estimated at just 200,000 metric tonnes.
This imbalance led to a wheat import volume of approximately 6 million metric tonnes, valued at USD 3.03 billion.
Ubi also stressed the need for more accurate data collection on wheat production in West and Central Africa.
“Wheat production statistics are largely under-reported in the region, and data must be regularly validated and updated,” he said.
In his remarks, the Country Director of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) in Nigeria, Dominique Koffy Kouacou, called for increased private sector involvement to address the wheat production shortfall.
He emphasized that collaboration at scale with the private sector is essential to achieving meaningful results.
“While organizations like the AfDB and FAO are supporting governments, we must also encourage the private sector to join in efforts to work at scale to achieve these goals,” Kouacou stated.
He reiterated the FAO’s commitment to supporting such initiatives in collaboration with governments across the region.
