Olam set to host webinar on boosting local wheat production

Olam, a leading food and agribusiness conglomerate, is set to hold its inaugural webinar series, the Olam Green Land Webinar Series, themed “Deepening the wheat farming development programme in Nigeria through innovation, increasing investments and collaborations.”

The webinar series, which will hold on March 26, 2021, will be headlined by award-winning scientist, Dr Filippo Maria Bassi, a senior scientist at the International Centre for the Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA) based in Morocco, where he leads the durum wheat breeding team to deliver varieties adapted to dryland agriculture. Dr Bassi will deliver the keynote address.

Speaking on the rationale for the webinar, Mr Ashish Pande, the Managing Director of Crown Flour Mill, a subsidiary of Olam Nigeria, said it is part of the company’s contribution to supporting ongoing efforts by the government and industry stakeholders in achieving Nigeria’s aspiration of self-sufficiency in wheat production and the overarching objective of food security.

According to Pande, the webinar will be a platform for engagement and exchange of ideas among stakeholders across the agriculture value chain. “The webinar series is our latest intervention programme to support Nigeria’s agro and food sufficiency drive. We hope that the platform will engender robust interactions and valuable knowledge sharing among key stakeholders in the agriculture value chain, particularly wheat farming, that will help transform the sector and help Nigeria attain food sufficiency. Olam remains determined to create an ecosystem for partnerships and collaborations in agriculture.”

He stated further: “Our sole objective of inaugurating the Olam Webinar Series is to facilitate conversations that will help all critical stakeholders galvanize for action by creating an ecosystem for partnerships and collaborations that will foster positive change.”

The webinar is expected to attract stakeholders from both the private and the public sectors, including agricultural experts from the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, Flour Milling Association of Nigeria (FMAN), wheat farmers association, agronomists, agriculture research institutes, policymakers, regulators and the National Assembly. Some of the panelists expected to feature in the webinar include: Zubairu Abdullahi, Agricultural Economist & Director, Planning and Policy Coordination, Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development; Alhaji Munir Babba Dan Agundi, Chairman, House Committee on Agricultural Colleges and Institutions, House of Representatives; Dr. Kachalla Kyari Mala, Principal Research Officer, Lake Chad Research Institute, Maiduguri, Borno State; Sarah Huber, Head of FMAN, Wheat Development Programme, Flour Milling Association of Nigeria (FMAN); and Alhaji Salim Saleh Muhammad, National President, Wheat Farmers Association of Nigeria (WFAN), among others.