Abstract
The Russia–Ukraine conflict has prompted calls for resource diversification and wheat self-sufficiency programmes in import-dependent regions. Here we show that this approach would have minimal impact on poor Nigerians as wheat constitutes only 4% of their total food consumption and 8% of their starchy staple consumption. In contrast, millets, rice, cassava and tubers are ten times more important—highlighting the need for careful consideration of country-context consumption patterns in response to external food system shocks.
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Data availability
The Nigeria LSMS—Integrated Surveys on Agriculture (LSMS—ISA) is publicly available from https://www.worldbank.org/en/programs/lsms/initiatives/lsms-ISA#34. The title and links for the four waves are shown in refs. 16,17,18,19.
Code availability
The data and code used for this study are also available and have been submitted to the journal.
Change history
18 April 2023
A Correction to this paper has been published: https://doi.org/10.1038/s43016-023-00758-1
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Acknowledgements
We are grateful for comments by the reviewers, and for support from the US Agency for International Development Nigeria Agricultural Policy Activity, the US Department of Agriculture National Institute of Food and Agriculture, and MSU AgBioResearch (projects MIC02593 and MICL02532). The contents are the sole responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the US Government or MSU AgBioResearch.
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L.S.O.L.-T. and T.R. conceptualized and designed the study. L.S.O.L.-T. obtained funding. C.M.P. and M.D. conducted the data analysis. L.S.O.L.-T. and T.R. drafted the manuscript. All authors read the final manuscript and approved its submission.
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Liverpool-Tasie, L.S.O., Reardon, T., Parkhi, C.M. et al. Nigerians in poverty consume little wheat and wheat self-sufficiency programmes will not protect them from price shocks related to the Russia–Ukraine conflict. Nat Food 4, 288–293 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s43016-023-00722-z
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s43016-023-00722-z
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