Flour Milling Association of Nigeria creates procurement centers in 15 Northern States

Under the CBN Anchor Borrower Program, the Flour Milling Association of Nigeria (FMAN) has created procurement centers in 15 Northern States to offtake all wheat grain from up to 150000 farmers (ABP).
Kano, Kaduna, Jigawa, Kebbi, Sokoto, Bauchi, Adamawa, Katsina, Gombe, Plateau, Taraba, Zamfara, Niger, and Yobe are among the states.
According to a statement from FMAN, the measure is intended to sustainably improve wheat output in the country by increasing farmer yields and making wheat competitive with rice and other dry-season crops.
The development program for 2021-22 season includes: Cultivation of 500 demonstration farms across the 15 northern states to provide training on Good Agronomic Practices to 150000 farmers under the CBN ABP, expansion of FMAN’s direct outgrower program with input loans to cover over 2,000 farmers in 7 states – Kano, Jigawa, Sokoto, Kebbi, Kaduna, Bauchi and Gombe.
Also, Expansion of seed production with 6 certified seed companies, including both dry and wet season seed production, to produce sufficient seed for 5,000 outgrowers next season.
The Partners for the program include Romarey Seeds, Premier Seeds, Lifted Agro, Greenspore, Sow Agritech and Noba Africa.
According to FMAN, Research trials on its 10-hectare research farm in Jigawa for testing new seed varieties and improved agronomic practices, including collaboration with Lake Chad Research Institute, CIMMYT and ICARDA
Grant funding for National Agricultural Seeds Council to expand their capabilities to test seed quality, certify seed production and train farmers to differentiate high-quality seed from others in the market
The Association however agreed that transforming wheat production in Nigeria requires a strong vision backed by clear roles and responsibilities for all stakeholders.
“To this end, we will be organizing state-wide Field Days in all our major areas of operations to bring together key stakeholders to address real-time challenges and learn from each other, as well as a Wheat Farmers Yield Championship at the end of the season to recognize the highest performing farmers”, FMAN stated. .
It stated also that, “We look forward to partnering with organizations across the value chain to improve farmers yields through high quality seeds, expanded extension services, and improved access to irrigation, all based on sound data & evidence” .
According to the statement made available to Journalists in Bauchi during the celebration of the Wheat Farmers Green Field Day, “FMAN has made significant impact on the wheat sector, and our level of our support has been both consistent and increasing”.
“Our focus has been on research and development, seed production, agronomic and input support and purchasing of local wheat. Specific interventions include: Purchased 20,000 tons of wheat valued at about 4 Billion Naira over the past 5 years”, it stated.
It also Signed an MOU each year with Wheat Farmers Association of Nigeria (WFAN) to buy any quantity of wheat available at an attractive price based on farmer yields; Purchased wheat directly from over 1,100 farmers at 15 village-level Wheat Farmer Centers in 2021.
FMAN also Provided loans of high-yielding seeds, fertilizers and agrichemicals to 400 farmers in 2019 and 700 farmers in 2020 in Kano, Jigawa and Kebbi states; Provided mechanized threshing services to over 500 farmers in 2021 on a cash-free basis in exchange for grain and
Established a Research and Development Grant to the Lake Chad Research Institute aimed at improving wheat varieties with good yield.
Further, it Established over 100 ha of wheat seed varietal testing and seed multiplication sites in Kano, Sokoto, Jigawa and Kaduna over the past 4 years; Donated 50 units of Amar Multi-crop threshers to WFAN; Donated 225 tons of seeds to farmers and also
Donated over 2,500 units of 3-inch water pumps to farmers.
“Our number one role is to provide a market for wheat farmers in Nigeria: we are expanding our procurement as an industry across the wheat producing states through additional aggregation staff and warehouse capacity”, FMAN stressed.