Wheat farmers lament poor yields amid price crash
Wheat farmers in Kano State have decried poor yield amidst high cost of production and crash in price of the commodity.
Reports have indicated that the price of the commodity has dropped compared to what was obtainable in the last few weeks.
Investigation by Daily Trust on Sunday indicated that 100kg bag of wheat which sold for N47,000 some weeks ago is now selling for N33,000 to N35,000.
According to a wheat farmer in Garun, Malam Alhaji Usman Baffa, farmers noted that despite massive participation in wheat production this year, there has been an issue related to drop in yields, adding that up to about 50 per cent drop in yield was recorded this year in most of the wheat producing areas.
Surprisingly, he said despite the drop in yields, there is every tendency of experiencing glut in most of the markets as wheat grain currently flooded most of the major grain markets in the state at a very low price.
“Many people participated in this year’s wheat production without having the necessary skills to do so and that was why they recorded poor yield. It is unfortunate to see a wheat farmer harvesting five to six bags per hectare instead of 12 to 12.5 bags. This is attributed to lack of effective government participation in the processes as well as lack of technical skills on the farmers’ side,” he said.
Similarly, a wheat merchant in the state, Alhaji Sayyadi Nasiru, stated that merchants and farmers are currently facing a serious challenge in striking a reasonable balance in terms of the commodity pricing.
According to him, the drop in the price of the commodity is being attributed to lack of an effective price control mechanism that will protect both the merchants and the farmers, adding that another factor that contributed to the availability of the commodity as well as the drop in price is the introduction of the use of other grains flour as a substitute to wheat flour.
“With the hike in wheat price recently experienced due to the Ukraine and Russian war that affected the global wheat supply, and based on a series of researches conducted, various stakeholders have come up with other grain flour substitutes to wheat flour. We now have rice flour, sorghum flour, cassava flour, among others and people are becoming used to these substitutes,” he revealed.
He further stated that the price will definitely go up the moment flour companies begin mopping up the excess wheat in the market.
Attempts to reach out to the National Chairman of Nigerian Wheat Farmers Association (WFAN), Alhaji Musa Shehu Sheka, weren’t successful as he didn’t respond to calls put across to him.
However, a source close to the association revealed that wheat farmers in the state have almost doubled wheat production this year because there has been an even distribution of good seeds to farmers by the WFAN, federal government and flour mills.
According to him, despite the intervention, the cost of wheat production was very high due to the high cost of inputs. He explained that wheat farmers are currently suffering and in dire need of government’s assistance to save the situation.