The price of Nigerian grown wheat has risen by 33 per cent due to its low production volume. The rise in the cost of wheat may lead to increase in the prices of bread and other pastries. Wheat is the major raw material for flour used in baking. It was gathered from the Wheat Growers Association of Nigeria that the projected price of the product was N180,000 per metric tonne at the beginning of the planting season.
However, due to the COVID-19 containment measures that affected the harvest process and led to the loss of the product by farmers, the price had increased to N240,000 per metric tonne. The President of the association, Salim Muhammad, said: “We set a price of N180,000 per metric tonne but the market demand raised the price to N240,000 per metric tonne, which the off-takers are not willing to accept. The virus started spreading during our harvest period and it could not allow farmers to have access to their farms due to restriction in movement and lockdown.
“It did not allow the farmers to get the labour they needed because of the social gathering restriction put in place.” He explained further that birds, insects and the weather had destroyed some of the ripe wheat that couldn’t be harvested on time. Noting that the farmers who were able to harvest successfully did not have access to market because of the lockdown. Muhammad said the association had made projections for 34,000 metric tonnes of wheat based on 11,185 farmers approved by the CBN but unfortunately due to the restricted movement, the group could not ascertain the volume of harvested wheat. Stating that from all indications, the hike in price would trickle down to millers, bakers and consumers.
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