Demand for Wheat Growing in Sub-Saharan Africa

October 15, 2012

A wheat field in Ethiopia

From VOA Learning English, this is the AGRICULTURE REPORT in Special English.

Agricultural experts met in Ethiopia last week to discuss ways to help sub-Saharan Africa become a major producer of wheat. The area traditionally produced little wheat.

Currently, maize -- or corn -- is the top cereal crop in countries south of the Sahara. In North Africa, wheat is the most important crop. Wheat production fell sharply in sub-Saharan countries during the nineteen eighties.

Hans Joachim Braun is director of the Global Wheat Program of the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center.

“Wheat was always a commodity crop in North Africa. North Africa was the grain basket for the Roman Empire. And wheat production and domestication started in North Africa, Turkey, Iraq. So for traditional reasons, wheat was always there.”

In the nineteen sixties, attempts were made to grow wheat in sub-Saharan Africa, including South Africa and Zimbabwe. But those countries found it was less costly to import wheat from Europe and the United States.

Another problem is that Africa’s wheat farms were often far from population centers. There also were transportation issues. And some lowlands were not a good place to grow wheat.

Hans Joachim Braun says now is a good time to increase wheat production.