In an effort to step up wheat production in Nigeria, stakeholders in the wheat value chain have discussed and agreed on the price farmers would get for their wheat as the harvesting of 2015/2016 wheat season comes to a close.
Speaking to newsmen shortly after a meeting convened by the Lake Chad Research Institute (LCRI), under the instruction of the minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, in Abuja the executive director of LCRI, Dr. Gbenga Olabanji noted that a minimum price favourable to the farmers and millers was considered.
He stated that although the millers seemed to have yielded ground and expressed readiness to pay the minimum suggested by the farmers’ representatives, they nonetheless asked the farmers’ representatives to consider lowering the price a little to allow the millers reduce their losses.
He said, ‘’The millers argued that they presently import wheat at nearly half the price the farmers are asking for, while the farmers
made a point about their cost of production and the fact that some farmers are under temptation to sell off their wheat harvests in the open market where it presently commands a higher price. The risk, however, was that the market price would drop significantly when harvested wheat floods the market.’’
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