Nigeria: Analysts call for urgent action to avert the collapse of the wheat value chain

Local industry analysts have called on the Federal Government to take swift and deliberate action to cushion the effects of the disruptions in the global wheat market on Nigeria's wheat value chain. The analysts made the call in a recently published review of the global wheat market following the war between the two top wheat exporting countries - Russia and Ukraine. According to the analysts, the multifaceted value chain crises, including the shortage of foreign exchange, mounting freight charges, and hike in the price of diesel, worsened by the war continue to take a heavy toll on the wheat value chain. Flour millers have continued to battle with the rising cost of production and low local wheat production. The rising costs have passed down to bakers as well as raise the hardship and cost of living index of the hard-pressed local consumers who continue to bear the burden of the increase in the prices of wheat derivative foods and household staples. The experts said the millers ...