Nigeria: Olam Agri, LCRI unveil heat-tolerant wheat variety for harmattan cultivation

In a bid to enhance wheat self-sufficiency and strengthen food security, Olam Agri and the Lake Chad Research Institute (LCRI) have introduced a groundbreaking heat-tolerant, super-early maturing durum wheat variety, tailored for local cultivation during the harmattan season. The release of the variety according to the organisation signals another milestone achievement for Olam Agri’s ‘Seed for the Future (SFTF)’ flagship project that was launched in 2021. The initiative is focused on removing hurdles to wheat production self-sufficiency in the country. It also prioritises developing and cultivating seed varieties that suit the country’s unique topographic and climatic conditions and training a wide range of smallholder farmers on modern agronomic practices, with a stronger focus on empowering rural women. LCRI achieved its first-year milestone of producing 10kg of pre-multiplication wheat seed varieties in September 2022 and this season, 10 women-owned farms will plant the seed ...