Great Agri Input Limited (GAIL), the agro-input arm of Flour Mills of Nigeria (FMN), has launched its 2026/2027 wheat planting season with a target of 10,000 hectares across roughly 13 Nigerian states. The Bank of Agriculture (BOA) is financing the programme, and the Flour Millers Association of Nigeria (FMAN) is a collaborating partner.

The flag-off ceremony took place in Taura Maje, Jigawa State, drawing community leaders, farmers, cooperatives, FMN and BOA management, and media representatives. Farmers received agricultural inputs at the event, marking the formal start of the season. Planting has already begun in some communities in Jigawa and neighbouring states.

What does this change for Nigeria's wheat supply?

The programme claims five years of measurable progress behind it. FMN says its local wheat work has influenced over 50 per cent of Nigeria's wheat cultivation and aggregation (the collection of grain from scattered smallholders), reached more than 170,000 farmers through training, input support, offtake (guaranteed purchase agreements) and extension services, and contributed to over 300,000 direct and indirect youth jobs.

Skepticism is warranted on one point: "influenced" is not "produced." The company has not disclosed the tonnage of wheat actually aggregated under the programme, nor the yield per hectare achieved on the land farmed to date. Without those figures, the 50 per cent claim rests on FMN's own definition of influence.

The hard numbers that are verifiable within the announcement concern seed. Local seed production rose from 572 metric tonnes in the 2021/2022 season to 6,500 metric tonnes in 2025/2026 — an elevenfold increase over four seasons. Over the last three years, more than 30 mechanisation partners have serviced over 8,000 hectares, supported adoption of the Borlaug wheat variety (a disease-resistant strain developed from Nobel laureate Norman Borlaug's breeding lines) and introduced three additional high-yielding varieties suited to Nigeria's climate.

Who is saying what

Sadiq Usman, Managing Director of FMN Agro and Group Director, Strategic Engagement and Partnership, framed the season as continuity rather than a new departure.

"FMN, through Great Agri Input Ltd (GAIL) for over two decades has been consistent in content localisation in Nigeria with the intent of driving food security and reducing dependency on imported raw materials," Usman said. He noted the commitments extend beyond wheat to maize, soybean, sugar cane, cassava and palm trees.

"Wheat is an integral raw material in our productions; thus, GAIL is right at the fore front of providing high yielding seedlings, agronomic support to farmers, partnerships, and market for the locally grown wheat," he added.

Tayo Ilori, General Manager of GAIL, stressed that inputs alone do not raise yields. "Access to superior-quality seeds and fertiliser is fundamental to improving agricultural productivity. However, the benefits of quality inputs are maximised when farmers also have access to the right knowledge, agronomic support and other resources throughout the production cycle," Ilori said.

Abdulrazaq Datti Salihi, BOA's Zonal Manager for the North-West, spoke on behalf of Managing Director and CEO Ayo Sotinrin. "The Bank of Agriculture is proud to serve as a financial and development partner in efforts to strengthen Nigeria's domestic wheat production. Through our financing interventions, we are working to improve farmers' access to essential resources and support the growth of local agricultural value chains," Salihi said.

Neither speaker specified the value of BOA's financing, the interest terms for farmers, or how credit risk will be shared if harvests disappoint. Those omissions matter for a programme whose scale now spans 13 states.

The outgrower model at the core

The initiative's central mechanism is the outgrower model, which connects smallholder farmers to inputs, training, extension services and guaranteed buyers, thereby strengthening the supply base for local millers. FMN, as Nigeria's largest flour miller, is in effect contracting its own raw material supply — a structure that aligns incentives but also concentrates market power in the offtaker.

For the 2026/2027 season, FMN has reiterated its commitment to raising local cultivation through quality inputs, training and what it calls an enabling environment for higher yields. Whether the 10,000-hectare target converts into milled Nigerian flour at scale will depend on figures the company has yet to publish.