Olam Agri, LCRI announce release of heat-tolerant, super early wheat variety to support Nigerian farmers

Olam Agri and Lake Chad Research Institute (LCRI) have further underlined their commitment to helping Nigeria toward greater wheat production self-sufficiency and food security with the release of a novel heat-tolerant and super-early durum wheat variety suitable for local cultivation during the harmattan season.

This release signals another milestone achievement for Olam Agri’s “Seed for the Future (SFTF)” flagship project that was launched in 2021.  The initiative is focused on removing hurdles to wheat production self-sufficiency in the country. It prioritises developing and cultivating seed varieties that suit the country’s unique topographic and climatic conditions and training a wide range of smallholder farmers on modern agronomic practices, with a stronger focus on empowering rural women.

The Lake Chad Research Institute (LCRI) achieved its first-year milestone of producing 10 kg of pre-multiplication wheat seed varieties in September 2022 and this season, ten women-owned farms will plant the seed variety in December, with hundreds of farms set to benefit by 2025 and thousands more in 2026.

This novel heat-tolerant and super-early durum wheat variety is called “Crown”,and it emerges from the work of Dr Filippo Bassi, a specialist wheat breeder at the International Centre for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA), as part of the work that received the Olam Prize for Innovation in Food Security back in 2018. Speaking about the wheat seed variety, Dr Filippo Bassi said, “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 super-early varieties that allow farmers to harvest and replant rice on time. Based on test results run with Crown Flour Mill Nigeria, this variety is certified as suitable for high-quality pasta production.”

Dr Kachalla Mala, an LCRI breeder and lead in the project, said, “Availability and accessibility of quality seed varieties are important to farmers, and we are excited to release “Crown”, a heat-tolerant, high-yielding wheat variety. 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 commercialise the seed.”

Each of the female cooperatives will now receive one quintal of Crown seeds, in addition to training in agronomic management and some initial financing to produce three tons of certified seeds ready for further usage by the farmers of their villages. They will then engage their farming communities to further multiply it to 30 tons of seeds and commercialise it for use across Nigeria.

Nitin Mehta, Managing Director of Crown Flour Mill Ltd (Olam Agri’s Wheat Milling business), explained, “We are glad to reach this critical milestone of releasing Crown, a novel heat-tolerant durum-wheat seed variety tailored to the Nigerian farming conditions. We consistently focus on making bold investments in projects that will enable the country to achieve its food production self-sufficiency goals and understand the importance of wheat-derivative foods such as pasta, bread, confectioneries, pastries, and biscuits in local dining.”

Anil Nair, Managing Director of Olam Agri’s operations in Nigeria, emphasised the company’s dedication to food security, stating, “The milestone release of the novel durum wheat seed variety supports the Federal Government’s Renewed Hope Agenda and focus on food security. 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 wheat.”

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