Dangote seeks Abuja’s food plan against shortage of imports
By Jeph Ajobaju, Chief Copy Editor
Aliko Dangote has urged the government to brainstorm with agriculture stakeholders on how to reduce the impact of food supply chain disruption caused by the war between Russia and Ukraine which will hit Nigeria more in the next two months.
Both Russia and Ukraine account for about 30 per cent of world wheat production and the war has translated that into shortage of wheat, maize, and urea in the global market.
The prices of bread and other bye-products of wheat have already risen in Nigeria
Dangote – President and Chief Executive Officer of Dangote Group, a conglomerate into multiple industrial and food products, from cement to spaghetti – also urged Abuja to ban exportation of maize.
He said the ban is necessary to ensure food security amid the war between Russia and Ukraine which poses serious challenges for global food supply.
Dangote spoke at the 4th Annual Nigerian Food Processors and Nutrition Leadership Forum in Lagos organised by the Aliko Dangote Foundation, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF), and TechnoServe, under the Strengthening African Processors of Fortified Foods (SAPFF) Programme.
Dangote warned that the war between Russia and Ukraine would lead to scarcity of food, arising from the inability to access fertiliser.
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Shortage of wheat, maize, urea
The impact of the war on food production may not be felt immediately, Dangote added, but the ripple effects will hit Nigeria in the next two to three months when current food stock would have depleted.
He said Russia is number one in world wheat production and Ukraine number five, both accounting for one-third of global wheat production, which means there would be a shortage of wheat, maize, and urea in the global market.
“We would start seeing people exporting maize to earn foreign exchange which I believe we should stop. We need to grow more so we don’t have a shortage of food. It is about food security and it’s serious,’’ Dangote stressed, per Nairametrics.
Russia and Ukraine also jointly produce about 13 per cent of urea, 26 per cent of potash, and are some of the largest producers of phosphate globally.
About SAPFF Programme
The SAPFF Programme aims to address challenges in the food fortification sector using a market-based approach to enable over 90 food processors increase their capacity to produce and sell fortified foods to local markets.
Households are facing the prospect of even higher food prices as the war in Eastern Europe piles pressure on global food system that was already in crisis before now.
Food prices were surging around the world before Russia invaded Ukraine, partly because of climate change and the pandemic.