Olam Agri bolsters Nigerian food security with heat-tolerant durum wheat for pasta

Olam Agri has launched a heat-tolerant and super-early durum wheat variety to support Nigeria’s wheat production self-sufficiency and food security. The variety is suitable for local cultivation during the region’s harmattan season, which occurs in West Africa between the end of November and the middle of March.

The International Centre for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA) developed the wheat varieties as part of the Olam Prize for Innovation.

“The Crown wheat variety is tailored for the Nigerian growing conditions after working closely with local farmers to understand their needs, especially the need to grow wheat early and allow the farmers to harvest and replant rice on time,” says Dr. Filippo Bassi, principal scientist Genetic Innovations at ICARDA.

“Based on test results, the variety is certified and suitable for pasta production.”

Nitin Mehta, managing director Olam Agri’s Crown flour milling business, believes the move will enable the country to achieve its “food production self-sufficiency goals” and understand the importance of wheat-derivative food such as pasta, bread, confectioneries, pastries and biscuits in local dining.

Seed for the future

Olam Agri’s release of its wheat variety follows the Seed for the Future wheat seed trial and multiplication effort, which it unveiled in 2021. 

The initiative focuses on removing hurdles to wheat production self-sufficiency in the country and prioritizes developing and cultivating seed varieties that suit the country’s “unique topographic and climatic conditions,” states the firm. This also involves training smallholder farmers on modern agronomic practices.

Olam Agri will provide one quintal of the Crown seed variety and agroeconomic training to female farmers.ICARDA and Lake Chad Research Institute (LCRI) partnered for the initiative, which produced 10 kg of pre-multiplication wheat seed varieties in September 2022.

Ten women-owned farms will plant the seed variety in December, the agribusiness company states, leading to “hundreds of farms” benefitting in 2025 and “thousands more in 2026.”

“In collaboration with Olam Agri and ICARDA, this is the first step in a chain of actions to work with women’s cooperative unions and local farmers to multiply and commercialize the seed,” says Dr. Kachalla Mala, LCRI breeder and project partner.

Scaling farming

Olam Agri will provide one quintal of the Crown seed variety to each female farmer who will also receive agronomic training and financing to allow them to cultivate and multiply the initial seed into three tons of certified seeds. 

They will then engage communities to multiply 30 tons of seeds further and commercialize them for neighboring communities.

“This initiative is not only advancing greater domestic wheat production but is also empowering women farmers to play a critical role in scaling up farming communities. The future is bright for the food value chain and we look forward to 100% Nigerian-grown pasta.” says Anil Nair, managing director of Olam Agri’s operations in Nigeria.