Russia-Ukraine War: Dangote, Flour Mills CEO call for ban on maize export

Africa’s richest man, Aliko Dangote, and the Chief Executive Officer of Flour Mills of Nigeria, Boye Olusanya, have called on the Federal Government to ban the export of maize in the wake of the Russia-Ukraine crisis.

Answering questions at the fourth Annual Nigerian Food Processors and Nutrition Leadership Forum on Thursday, Dangote said Nigeria might be faced with scarcity of maize as both Russia and Ukraine are major producers of fertilizer-making ingredients.

“There will be shortage of wheat, maize and a lot of products because as we speak now Russia and Ukraine do almost 30% of the world’s urea and 26% of the world’s potash — and phosphate also. They are one of the largest in the world,” Dangote said.

“There would be scarcity of food generally, we would not be able to access fertilizers going forward, we would not see the effects now, but in the next two, three months. The US will not be able to do same number of tonnage they did last year because of this.

“Right now, you would start seeing people exporting maize to earn foreign exchange, which I think we need to stop, so that we don’t create shortage, and we need to make sure we grow more so we don’t have shortage. It is about food security, and it is very very serious.”

Also speaking, Olusanya said Nigeria needs to start discussions on how to overcome the challenges coming as a result of the Russia-Ukraine war.

“The reality is that Russia and Ukraine are number one and number five in wheat production, and if you take that volume, which is almost one-third of global production, there would be an immediate impact on prices,” Olusanya said.

“Today, the prices of wheat have gone up. There is a lag that comes because of inventory control, but it is something that we need to sit down with the government to say what measures can we put in place to alleviate what is coming.

“The impact is not just on wheat alone; Ukraine is one of the largest producers of maize, which will also have a significant impact on maize, which is an alternative to wheat.

“You will start looking at cross-border trafficking of maize, more farmers will look into taking maize out of the country.

“The last impact is on fertilizers, and the impact is not just short term. You’re not looking at a one-off thing. You’re looking an impact on production over a  year to 18 months.

“When you look at all that and what then happens in pricing, obviously, if we don’t manage this well, there will be significant volume compression, in terms of material that comes in and therefore the volume of food that is sold.”