The National President, Agricultural Society of Nigeria, Prof. Ibrahim Abubakar, has advocated allocation of more land for wheat cultivation in the potential growth areas.
Abubakar told newsmen on Thursday in Abuja that growing enough wheat for consumption would reduce the current import rate.
“The wheat production area for Nigeria today is less than 200 hectares but Nigeria has the potential for more than two million hectares.
“These states where wheat can be comfortably grown actually lie between latitude 10 to 14 degrees North, ranging from Kaduna to Borno to Yobe.
“With this vast land, we have no justification to say that Nigeria cannot feed itself and concerted efforts really have to be put into ensuring that we use all.
“If we can utilise 2 million hectares and with our average production of about four tonnes per hectare, we are going to get 8 million tonnes and our current requirement is 4 million tonnes.
“That means we can produce double of what we require and the surplus we export.”
He listed the states with potential for wheat cultivation to include Kaduna, Kano, Jigawa, Katsina, Zamfara, Sokoto, Kebbi, Bauchi, Gombe, Yobe, Adamawa and Borno.
Others for rain-fed wheat cultivation include Taraba, Plateau and Cross River states.
As at 2010, Nigeria was said to have spent 4 billion US dollars (approximately N635 billion) annually on wheat importation alone.
The consumption of wheat in Nigeria, especially for bread and other confectioneries is nearly 3.7 million metric tonnes annually.
Now, less than 100,000 metric tonnes of wheat is cultivated annually in the country.