The restriction of movements across states of the federation aimed at curbing the spread of COVID-19 led many Nigerians into baking of bread and confectioneries, according to data from Google. However, the rising price of wheat, a major ingredient for baking, cast a pall on what was fast becoming a past-time.
As the number of COVID-19 cases in Nigeria began to rise, the Federal Government enacted a two-week lockdown on Lagos, Abuja and Ogun State, which later extended to five weeks ending May 4. Other states of the federation also followed suit with varying degrees of restrictions.
In the 30 days prior to May 4, the day gradual easing of the lockdown began in Lagos, Abuja and Ogun, the top trending search term on Google Nigeria was ‘how to make bread’, followed by ‘who is Abba Kyari’, with Google reporting that the top 20 trending questions from search in Nigeria were dominated by food and current affairs questions. According to Google, search trends information is gleaned from data it collates based on what Nigerians have been searching for and asking Google.
“Forced to stay at home, and often unable to perform their usual work, many people across the globe, including Nigerians, have turned to cooking and baking as ways to pass the time – and keep themselves fed in the absence of restaurants and other vendors,” Google said when the search trends were made public.
Top 10 trending food questions in Nigeria over the 30-day period prior to May 4 were ‘How to make bread’, ‘How to make pancakes with flour’, ‘How to make chinchin’, ‘How to make fish roll’, ‘How to make egg roll’, ‘How to make pizza’, ‘How to prepare vegetable soup’, ‘How to make cookies’, ‘How to make akara’, and ‘How to make egusi soup’.
Out of these top 10 queries pertaining to food, seven are derivatives of wheat-based flour, which is predominantly used in Nigeria.
But the price of flour, which varies by location and usage (based on volume), has increased by as much as 20 percent in some places, from N10,000 per 50kg bag to N12,000 in the last two months. Even for bulk users such as bakeries and producers of confectioneries who previously bought it for less than N9,000, they now have to pay as much as N10,500 per bag. This has threatened what is now becoming a past-time in the country.
Wheat production in Nigeria is currently challenged as farmers have been unable to harvest their crops from the farms, while preparations for the next planting season are uncertain.
In 2019, data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) showed Nigeria imported at least N401 billion worth of wheat, with the product retaining its position as the country’s highest agricultural import. In 2018, wheat importation gulped N362.4 billion, representing 42.5 percent of the N852 billion officially captured by NBS to have been spent importing agricultural goods.
“If you look at the rate of consumption per capita, we consume more wheat than rice in this country,” said Salim Muhammad, president, Wheat Farmers Association of Nigeria.
Muhammad had noted during a webinar by the Guild of Nigerian Agriculture Journalists (GNAJ) last week that there is a high demand for wheat products in Nigeria as well as high consumption of wheat. However, production has struggled to increase over the years as the sub-sector appears to be suffering neglect from government and policymakers, with Muhammad describing wheat as a ‘political crop’.
“Every Nigerian household consumes bread, noodles, and pastas. But what is my country doing to produce enough wheat for the consumption locally in the country?” he asked.
At present, wheat farmers who should be harvesting their crops between April and May have been caught in the middle of COVID-19 restrictions, and some already fear that part of their farm harvests would already be lost if they eventually gain access. Not just to enter the farms, but also with harvesting requirement for wheat.
“If you look at the derivatives of wheat, it is top-line food for the younger (upper and lower) middle income class, and that population is growing,” Ayodeji Balogun, country manager, AFEX Commodities Exchange Limited, told BusinessDay in a previous phone interview.
“The population of people eating pasta will continue to increase, and every sachet of noodles is a part of wheat. That number will keep growing and wheat is not a crop we have any efficiency in producing,” Balogun said.
Even though the price of flour is increasing, nobody would buy if you change the prices of loaves of bread because people simply have no money, said Kabiru Ibrahim of the All Farmers Association of Nigeria.
“We must allow the production of wheat and encourage its production because the amount of wheat that we consume is colossal,” Ibrahim said.
