Wheat farmers urge FG to intervene in price peg by flour millers
Some wheat farmers in Abuja on
Wednesday appealed to the Federal Government to intervene in the
off-take price peg on wheat by flour millers to encourage production.
They made the appeal in an interview
with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN).
They expressed regret that the
agreement between them and flour millers to purchase a 100kg bag of
wheat at N14, 000 was not commensurate with the cost of production.
Mr Abdullahi Maigari, a wheat farmer in
Jigawa, said that the price was not encouraging.
Maigari explained that a 100kg bag of
wheat was sold between N30, 000 and 35, 000 at the open market.
According to him, most farmers prefer
to sell their produce at the open markets than to sell directly to
flour millers.
The farmer said the upward review of
the price, would encourage more entrants into the business, boost
production and ensure food security.
He also appealed to the Federal
Government to sustain the ban on imported wheat to enable local
production flourish.
‘‘I am going to farm 10 hectares of
wheat this year but the problem is that the buy-back price agreement
we have with flour millers is not encouraging.
‘‘Wheat production generally
increased in the country but some of us are backing out because of
the low off-take price.
‘‘We want the Federal Government to
intervene so that the price can increase and many farmers can come
into the production,’’ he said.
Mrs Malama Alhaji, also a farmer in
Kano State, said that intervention from the Federal Government will
encourage them to produce more wheat.
She called for prompt distribution of
farm inputs to boost agricultural production.
‘‘We want timely distribution of
seeds and other farm inputs.
‘‘Bank of Agriculture (BOA) does
not give loan until the farming season is almost gone.
‘‘We want the government to come
and intervene so that we will have a better buy-back price for our
produce,’’ Alhaji said.
Hajiya Salamatu Kuka, a wheat farmer in
Jigawa, said that wheat farmers in the state were yet to benefit from
the CBN’s Anchor Borrowers Scheme.
‘‘If the government can address our
challenges, we are ready to grow more wheat even for export,’’
she said.
NAN recalls that wheat farmers
association and flour millers association in 2016, signed a
Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to off-take locally produced wheat
across the country at a fixed price of N14, 000 per 100kg bag.
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