The Wheat Farmers Association of Nigeria (WFAN) in Kano state has urged the new administration coming in to stop all importation of wheat into the country, The state Chairman of WFAN, Faruk Rabi'u made the plead in an interview on Sunday.
The Wheat Farmers Association of Nigeria (WFAN) in Kano State has called on the incoming administration to ban the importation of wheat in the country.
The state Chairman and Deputy National President of WFAN, Mr Faruk Rabi’u, made the call in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Kano on Sunday.
Rabi’u said the call was necessary in view of the amount of money the Federal Government was spending on the importation of the commodity annually.
“The Federal Government is spending over one trillion naira on the importation of wheat.
“The government can use less than one quarter of the money to support wheat farmers and boost the production of the commodity in the country," he said.
He said that the ban on the importation of wheat was necessary if the government was serious on tackling the unemployment challenges, especially among the rural dwellers in the country.
He stressed the need for the government to assist the association with combine harvesters in addition to directing companies to purchase surplus of the commodity from farmers.
“Our major challenges are lack of combine harvesters and ready market. Once these problems are solved, we can feed West Africa countries with the commodity," he said.
He also called on the Federal Government to increase the number of inputs being given to farmers to enable more farmers embrace wheat production not only in the state but across the country.
“More inputs should be provided to our members to encourage them to go into wheat production, he added.