The Technologies for African Agricultural Transformation (TAAT) said on Monday in its statement that African countries spend about $20 billion annually on importation of wheat into the continent.
Dr Solomon Gizaw, The Head of TAAT Clearinghouse, said during a Train-the-Trainer workshop organised on wheat seed production in Nigeria in Kano. He also said Nigeria had all it takes to produce, feed itself and the rest of African countries.
” The fight between Russia and Ukraine impacted the whole of Africa.”
“You can imagine, two countries fighting elsewhere in Europe but the fight has caused a lot of supply disruption because Africans were the major importers of wheat across the continent.
“This means that as a continent, we don’t have food security as our food security is in the hands of the others.
“Africa around this time annually spends nearly $20 billion to import wheat from other part of the world.
“They import fertiliser and wheat from Ukraine and Russia and as a result the war between the duos has disrupted the supply of wheat and fertiliser,’’ he said.
“This proses a lot of challenges to provide food because of the high prices of fertiliser. Africa is hard-hit as a result of these two countries’ war.
“We in Africa have the technology, land, water and the people. If we bring together and work together, Nigeria can feed itself and the rest of African countries.
“The mechanism we put in place is a flagship programme with the African Development Bank.
“In Africa today, we have several high yielding wheat varieties that are giving high yield of six to seven tons per hectare,” he said.