Boosting Food Security and Farmer Livelihoods Through Bean Flour Production in Nigeria

Nigeria is the largest producer of beans in Africa, yet paradoxically, it is also one of the biggest importers of wheat for items like bread and noodles. Meanwhile, post-harvest losses are as high as 40% for beans due to limited storage and processing infrastructure.

Developing value-added products like bean flour and boosting local food manufacturing can help Nigeria enhance food security, curb imports, reduce crop waste, and improve smallholder farmer incomes.

This article makes the case for scaling up bean flour production in Nigeria by analysing demand dynamics, the value proposition for farmers, and current challenges, and providing actionable solutions to optimise the bean-to-flour value chain.

Overview of Rising Demand for Bean Flour

Flour made from pulsed crops like beans, lentils, and peas is gaining popularity as a healthy, gluten-free alternative to wheat flour. Global pulse flour demand is projected to reach US$240 million by 2025, driven by:

1. Growing health consciousness: beanflour has higher protein and fibre than wheat flour, appealing to health-focused consumers.
2. Gluten-free appeal: pulse flour suits consumers avoiding gluten found in wheat. This includes celiac disease patients.
3. Vegan demand: For vegan bakeries and food manufacturers, bean flour provides an appealing egg- and gluten-free substitute.
4. Versatility: Increasing use of pulse flours by packaged food companies in pasta, noodles, crackers, and baked goods due to their nutritional profile and functional benefits

Africa currently accounts for a minimal share of global bean flour production. But with abundant local bean output, Nigerian processors are well positioned to capitalise on rising international and domestic demand.

The Case for Commercial Bean Flour Milling in Nigeria

Scaling up commercial bean flour production can benefit Nigeria in three major ways:

1. Import Substitution: Domestically milled bean flour can substitute 20–30% of the 5 million tonnes of wheat flour Nigeria imports annually worth over $2 billion. This will conserve foreign exchange.
2. Food Security: Increasing climate instability may disrupt future wheat imports. But local bean flour-based staples enhance Nigeria’s self-sufficiency.
3. Higher Farmer Incomes: Guaranteed demand from flour millers will raise bean prices, improving smallholder farmer revenues. Modest 5–10% price increases can boost farmer incomes by 20–30%.

Despite these advantages, bean flour production remains minimal. Let us examine the value proposition, challenges, and solutions for establishing Nigeria as a globally competitive bean flour exporter.

The Bean-to-Flour Value Chain

Transitioning raw beans into value-added packaged flour for retail involves five key stages:

1. Farming: Sourcing adequately dried beans of consistently high quality
2. Storage and Transport: Preventing contamination and spoilage en route to millers
3. Milling: cleaning, dehulling, milling, and sifting to produce smooth flour
4. Packaging: packaging flour in food-grade bags suitable for retail shelves
5. Distribution and Sales: Reaching end consumers through retail and institutional buyers

There are strengths but also crucial gaps across the bean-to-flour value chain that must be addressed.

Strengths and Assets in Nigerian Bean Production

Nigeria’s existing bean farming sector provides a strong foundation:

1. Massive Production Scale: Around 3.4 million metric tonnes are produced annually, the largest in sub-Saharan Africa.
2. Developing Cluster Farming: Emerging bean farming clusters in states like Kaduna and Niger are showing productivity improvements.
3. Crop Suitability: Smallholder suitability is important as beans are drought-tolerant with short 3-month crop durations. Minimal use of fertilisers and pesticides.
4. Value Chain Development Initiatives: Programmes by IFAD, Feed the Future, and USAID focusing on farmer organisations, storage, and agro-processing

However, there are also major gaps limiting the emergence of a globally competitive Nigerian bean flour industry.

Key Challenges Facing Nigeria’s Bean-to-Flour Value Chain

1. Low yields

• Average yields are 1 tonne/ha, compared to up to 2 tonne/ha for global leaders like China and the USA.
• Causes include reliance on unimproved varieties, suboptimal planting practices, and erratic rainfall due to climate change.

2. Post-Harvest Losses

• High post-harvest losses, up to 40%, result from poor harvesting techniques, inadequate drying, storage, and transport. This lowers quality and quantity.

3. Limited Value Addition

• There are virtually no modern bean flour mills, resulting in the export of raw beans rather than higher-value flour.
• Flour milling is limited to micro-enterprises with small, rudimentary mills.

4. Poor Access to Markets

• Weak collection, aggregation, and distribution systems link smallholder bean farmers to buyers.
• Lack of standards, grading infrastructure, and warehousing constrain access to high-value markets.
• Absence of structured trading platforms.

5. Underdeveloped Food Processing Sector

• There is currently minimal use of bean flour as a substitute for imported wheat flour by Nigerian food and snack processors.
• Low local demand limits the business case for major flour milling investments.

A holistic approach spanning policy, infrastructure, farming practices, and marketing is essential to unlocking the bean sector’s potential and profitability for all value chain actors.

Solutions to Optimise Nigeria’s Bean-to-Flour Value Chain

1. Boosting Bean Farming Productivity

• Improved seed variety deployment: Facilitate access to certified heat- and disease-resistant high-yielding bean seeds through decentralised seed companies.
• Farm mechanisation: tractor hiring schemes and cooperatives to share planting and harvesting machinery, reducing labour costs.
• Irrigation infrastructure: solar-powered irrigation systems for bean farming clusters to mitigate climate uncertainties.
• Good Agricultural Practices Training: Extension programmes on optimal sowing, soil fertility, water management, pest control, and harvesting protocols
• Farmer organisations: strengthen farmer clusters for knowledge sharing, synchronised planting, procuring inputs, and marketing.

1. Reducing Post-Harvest Losses

• Curing, drying, and storage infrastructure: assist cooperatives in acquiring clean drying floors, ventilated storage facilities, and packaging to retain bean quality.
• Transportation: Link farmer clusters to affordable motorised transporters to rapidly convey perishable beans to markets and mills.
• Warehousing and logistics infrastructure: Develop a network of certified warehouses offering cleaning, weighing, grading, and packing services to assure buyers of bean quality.

III. Promoting Value Addition Through Bean Flour Production

• Establish medium-scale mills. Position mills with 2–5 tonnes per day capacities near producing clusters to enable farmer access. Provide incentives like tax breaks to investors.
• Common facility centres: Set up shared equipment for cleaning, grading, and milling for farmer cooperatives to process smaller bean volumes collectively.
• Technology extension: Help millers acquire equipment for cleaning, dehulling, splitting, milling, and sifting to produce fine, consistent flour.
• Automated packaging: assist SME mills with packaging machines and printed pouches to supply retail-ready packs instead of loose flour.
• Testing laboratories: Ensure mills have access to proximate analysis labs to test flour nutrition, protein, and gluten content in order to certify quality.

1. Expanding Distribution and Demand for Bean Flour

• Institutional buyers: schools, hospitals, and boarding facilities represent major potential buyers. Long-term contracts can be negotiated.
• Food processor partnerships Partner with snack and baked goods companies to substitute 10–20% wheat flour. Help adapt recipes and processes.
• Retail marketing: on-pack branding, in-store promotions, and online sales channels to drive consumer awareness and trials
• Standards certification: ISO certification for food safety management systems and hazard control to assure consumers and buyers.
• Export promotion: participate in international food fairs. Leverage African free trade agreements for zero-tariff exports within the continent.

With the right mix of policy, infrastructure, and marketing, Nigeria can develop globally competitive bean flour value chains that provide certified high-quality, nutritious flour for consumers while improving farmer incomes.

The Role of Government in Facilitating Bean Flour Development

While private agribusiness firms are essential for value chain development, the government must catalyse infrastructure and provide policy support.

• Enabling fiscal incentives: tax holidays, capital allowances for bean milling and processing equipment, subsidised land in food processing zones
• Infrastructure investments include roads, warehousing, power supply, and irrigation for farming clusters and processor parks.
• Facilitating access to finance through interest subsidies and loan guarantees through initiatives like CBN’s Commercial Agriculture Credit Scheme
• Research funding: support crop breeding programmes to develop improved bean varieties adapted for Nigerian growing conditions.
• Standards development: Establish grading protocols, micronutrient enrichment, and safety standards for bean flour in collaboration with regulators and industry.
• Industry partnerships Link farmers and processors to bulk buyers like flour millers, food companies, and commodity traders through structured dialogue and contractual arrangements.
• Export assistance: support processors with trade mission participation, compliance requirements, and shipping logistics.

A comprehensive approach integrating all value chain stages, from farming to exports, can help Nigeria capture more value from its local bean output while meeting national food security needs.

Models for Commercial Bean Flour Milling from Asia and Europe

While the bean-to-flour concept is still novel in Africa, there are proven business models from countries like Turkey, Canada, and China that Nigeria can adopt:

1. Integrated Mills

Vertical integration by large flour milling companies encompasses procurement, cleaning, splitting, milling, and packaging. Mills are located in crop-producing areas and often also manage contract farming schemes.

2. Farmer Cooperative Mills

Bean grower cooperatives are pooling volumes to justify investment in milling and packaging equipment. Partnerships with packaging companies enable retail distribution under the coop’s brand name.

3. SME Flour Millers

Small mills focused on milling from locally sourced beans. Products are sold in bulk to distributors, flour companies, and food manufacturers. Limited in-house packaging.

4. Food Company Captive Units

Flour milling divisions are set up by large noodle, pasta, and baked goods companies to handle in-house bean flour needs. Provides quality control.

A combination of these models tailored to market conditions can facilitate the development of Nigeria’s bean flour value chains.

The Future of Bean Flour in Nigeria

While still at a nascent stage, with enabling policies and infrastructure, bean flour can transition from a niche to a mainstream staple, catalysing inclusive agricultural development.

Import substitution: Domestically milled bean flour can replace millions of metric tonnes of wheat imports annually.

Premium health food: Once consumers recognise the nutritional benefits, bean flour can command premium prices.

Farmer prosperity: Assured miller demand and higher prices can raise smallholder bean incomes by 20–30%.

Job creation: new employment along the value chain, from farms to factories, warehouses, logistics, and retail.

Private investment: demonstrated commercial viability can attract agribusiness investment in technology and infrastructure.

Export potential: Nigeria can become a major bean flour supplier to Africa and beyond.

Unlocking bean flour’s potential requires public-private collaboration to optimise every node of the value chain. However, once constraints are addressed, bean flour can provide a lucrative and scalable pathway for uplifting smallholder farmers and enhancing national food and nutrition security.

Conclusion

With its massive bean output, rapidly growing population, and sizeable food manufacturing sector, Nigeria possesses major advantages to profitably position locally milled bean flour as a mainstream staple and globally traded commodity.

Realising this potential requires resolute efforts to boost smallholder productivity, reduce post-harvest losses, facilitate large-scale milling infrastructure, spur domestic demand, and catalyse exports.

But by mobilising effective policies, infrastructure, technologies, and value chain linkages, bean flour can provide productive farming livelihoods, substitute wheat imports, and drive inclusive agricultural development, turning Nigeria’s underutilised bean surpluses into national prosperity.