How SON galvanizes operators towards massive local wheat, rice production

Amid the current uproar concerning skyrocketing prices of food items, particularly bread and other wheat-related foods, the Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON) has been upbeat rendering technical support for local rice and wheat production across the country.

Apart from sensitizing stakeholders on the role of standards in promoting sustainable agriculture and food security in Nigeria, the standards body has been emphasizing the need for longterm investments on local wheat and rice production.

Nigeria has since been identified as one of the major importing countries of wheat, flour and wheat products in the world. Other countries ranked alongside Nigeria included Egypt, Indonesia, Brazil, Philippines, Turkey and Algeria.

With the Russia-Ukraine war still raging, the price of wheat has continued to spiral, causing high food prices not only in Nigeria but across the world.

Russia and Ukraine account for about 34 percent of global wheat production and control about 29 percent of wheat exports.

According to the Director General, SON, Mallam Farouk Salim, Nigeria being an importdependent country, has no other option than to encourage private sector to embark on massive infrastructural investment on local production of wheat and rice, especially, wheat which remains an essential ingredient for the production of a wide range of food such as bread, noodles, pasta, cakes, wheat meal, flour, semolina, among others.

Local wheat production in Nigeria has remained grossly inadequate to meet growing demand. Hence, SON has been determined to change the narrative for the better.

The agency has urged the stakeholders to invest massively in local production of the product rather than depending on imports.

This development comes on the heels of the recent training workshop organised for over 500 rice millers in Kano and stakeholders’ and engagement with flour millers by SON as part and parcel of efforts to attain food security in the country.

The SON DG met with flour and rice millers in Lagos and Kano to sensitize them on the critical roles they need to play at this time when there is low output in the supply chain of wheat, especially from Ukraine.

Flour millers were told that they need to take advantage of the opportunity to look inwards by investing in backward integration to grow local highquality yields rather than depend on imports.

According to the SON boss, scarcity should never be an excuse for some of the manufacturers to compromise standards. He said the agency would not compromise on standards, urging millers to invest in local production of wheat to achieve food security and conserve the nation’s hardearned foreign exchange.

“The ultimate plan is to do the same thing we did with rice where the local industry will embark on backward integration to encourage local farmers to produce more wheat. That way, we will not have to depend on imports”, he re-stated.

Reacting to the SON DG’s admonitions, one of the millers, Mr Bolaji Anifowose of Olam Farms, said his company has been supporting the Federal Government’s wheat project by assisting wheat farmers over the years.

He also assured the government and wheat farmers’ association that his company would stake reasonable prices on its products to encourage local millers while also increasing their profit margins.

The Regional Director, SON, Mr Albert Wilberforce, further explained that if products meet standards and producers follow the laid down rules, they would not have any problem in the receiving countries.

“The third-party milling training is conducted for companies with little or no milling capacity in order to sell their products. Third parties and millers must adhere to the requirements for third party milling required parameters in order to avoid sanctions by SON,” he urged.

A miller, Mr Kelvin Uzor, said when farmers produce quality commodities for export, the companies would expand, more people would be employed and it would reduce insecurity and increase the life span of consumers in the country.

Alhaji Shehu Musa, who is one of the Small and Medium Scale industrialists, said the training would increase their capacities in improving standardization of products.

It is left to be seen how stakeholders, especially those in the wheat business, would key into SON’s technical support and standards stipulations in the face of spiralling cost of wheat-related products across the country.