Primary production
About the programme
Nigeria consumes wheat at industrial scale, but produces almost none of it.
The Challenge
The country imports around 6.7 million metric tonnes of wheat every year, at a cost of more than $3 billion. Domestic production stands at roughly 135,000 metric tonnes. That imbalance shapes the price of bread, noodles, pasta and other wheat-based staples in every market in the Federation.
The Challenge
The Evidence
The Consequence
The Intervention
Domestic supply
~135k MT
Local harvest, national appetite. Domestic wheat production
remains a fraction of national demand. Closing that gap is a
long-horizon task.
Market structure
72%
Artisanal and SME baked goods. Most Nigerian baked goods
are already made by small and mid-sized enterprises. Scaling
them is how the programme reaches households.
What WHEAT-NESS does
Six core objectives, one industrial purpose.
The programme is built to raise idle capacity, ease consumer prices, expand MSME production and endow a fund that outlives any single budget cycle.
Improve input supplies & farming
Facilitate the supply of wheat and strengthen domestic farming production to reduce long-term import dependency and ensure a steady flow of raw materials.
Enhance grain storage
Develop and expand grain silo capacity to hold sourced wheat, buffering against market shocks and ensuring a more predictable supply chain.
Raise milling utilisation
Put idle mill capacity back to work through structured offtake partnerships and more predictable grain-to-flour flow. Raise milling utilisation to optimal, sustainable levels.
Scale MSMEs
Equip bakeries and wheat-food enterprises with flour access, enterprise support and a clearer route into formal markets.
Ease consumer costs
Target a sustainable reduction in the cost of selected wheat-based consumer foods through a more efficient chain, not a permanent subsidy.
Endow a development fund
Capitalise a self-renewing fund so the programme can keep financing value-chain activity after the first public allocation.
Financing architecture
Two tracks. One programme.
Delivery and capitalisation run together. One track does the work in mills, bakeries and markets. The other endows the fund that keeps that work possible.
Direct Programme Activities
Operational work across milling, MSME production, logistics and consumer campaigning.
- Structuring Value chain development
- Providing Enterprise development support
- Driving the Made-in-Nigeria campaign
Fund Capitalisation
The financial spine of the programme: a self-renewing development fund designed to recycle capital into the chain.
- Public seed capital, then private and institutional inflows
- A fund that is intended to renew itself, not expire with a vote
- Capital allocated against clear value-chain use cases
Governance
Governance Structure.
The programme reports through a clear institutional line.
Steering Committee
Chaired by the Honourable Minister of State for Industry, providing strategic leadership, policy guidance, and oversight of the Programme, and ensuring that all interventions remain aligned with national economic transformation goals.
Committee Members
- Mr. Raymond Omachi (Member) Permanent Secretary (Finance), Ministry of Finance
- Mr. Telta Naphtali David (Secretary) Deputy Director, Federal Department of Agriculture, Ministry of Agriculture
- Mr. Eyo Asuquo (Member) Private Sector Representative
Programme Delivery Unit
Led by the Programme Coordinator, the PDU is responsible for day-to-day programme management, coordination, and implementation of programme goals and activities.
Parallel tracks
The programme also looks beyond today’s imported grain.
Industry
Miller Diversification
Encourage millers to deepen participation in the consumer-foods chain not only as processors of imported grain, but as partners in offtake, product range and market stability.
Research & Domestic Production
A longer track: research, agronomy and production systems that can raise Nigeria’s own wheat output from today’s ~60,000 MT baseline.
From import reliance to options
Domestic production will not replace 4.3 million tonnes overnight. The track exists so the country is not without a plan for that horizon.
Key Programme Impact Areas
The work will be visible in fields, mills and bakeries.
Industrial milling
MSME production
Raise milling utilisation
Idle capacity is a cost the country already pays for.
Structured offtake is how that capacity is put back to work,
raising utilisation to meet national demands efficiently.
Ease the price of wheat foods
Lowering consumer costs is a core target. It is pursued through a more efficient chain, not a
permanent subsidy.
Scale the MSME bakery base
A vast majority of baked goods are already made by
artisans and SMEs. The programme is designed around that
crucial base, rather than just a handful of large brands.
Made-in-Nigeria.
Food that is
baked, milled and bought at home. The consumer campaign is not
decoration. It is the demand side of the programme a public
invitation to choose wheat foods produced in Nigerian mills
and MSME bakeries.
Contact
Write to the Programme Delivery Unit.
Official telephone, email and social channels will be published here as soon as they are designated. Until then, this form is the public correspondence channel for Project WHEAT-NESS.
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Address 2nd Floor, Tower 1, Bank of Industry, Central Business District, Abuja
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Email info@projectwheatness.gov.ng
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Phone +234 800 WHEATNESS