In order to create wheat seed varieties that are suited to its climate and increase local production while reducing reliance on imports, Nigeria, Africa’s top buyer of wheat, is collaborating with the food firm Olam International Ltd.

In a virtual media conference on Friday, Ashish Pande, the country director for Olam Agri Nigeria, said that the Olam unit Crown Flour Mill Ltd. has created so-called nucleus seeds appropriate for the topography and climate of the West African country.

Before Russia’s war of Ukraine interrupted supply, the most populous nation in Africa imposed import restrictions on wheat. According to the US Department of Agriculture, it only collected less than 1% of the 4.7 million tons of grain it consumed in 2021. The increase in grain crop prices contributed to the increase in food inflation, which reached 22% in July from a year earlier.

Lack of suitable seed varieties that can be produced in regional climates, high fertilizer prices, and a lack of irrigation infrastructure have all impeded domestic wheat production.

In Nigeria’s wheat-growing region, the new seeds “provide some certainty that the investment of Olam will increase production,” according to Kachalla Mala, the Lake Chad Research Institute’s main research officer, who spoke at the briefing.