Nigeria’s largest beer maker, Nigerian Breweries Plc, said the country could reduce its heavy reliance on imported barley if government and industry players support efforts to scale domestic production, after a pilot programme showed the crop can grow commercially in the country’s northern region.
At a barley field day in Ringim, Jigawa State, the brewer said more than 1,000 smallholder farmers cultivated barley under its Maltina Barley Programme this season, producing an expected yield of just over 1,000 tons.
The output is small compared with national demand but demonstrates that the crop can be grown locally.
Nigeria’s brewing industry imports about 200,000 tons of malted barley each year, sending more than $150 million abroad, according to the company.
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“Our ambition is clear: to develop a barley value chain that is rooted in Nigerian soil, powered by Nigerian farmers, and capable of meeting the quality standards required by industry,” said Thibaut Boidin, managing director and chief executive officer of Nigerian Breweries. “However, this ambition cannot be achieved by the private sector alone.”
The brewer said scaling production to industrial levels would require coordinated support from government, financiers, and agricultural input providers, alongside farmers.
“Building a sustainable commercial barley value chain in Nigeria is a long journey,” said Federico Agressi, supply chain director at Nigerian Breweries.
“It will require hard work and persistence from everyone involved, including strong and consistent support from the government.”
The company said research conducted with the Lake Chad Research Institute and Secobra Research led to the registration of three high-yield barley varieties, including Traveler, Explorer, and Prunella, in 2024.
A separate study carried out with IDH – The Sustainable Trade Initiative, and Dalberg identified more than 400,000 hectares of suitable land for barley cultivation across northern Nigeria.
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Nigerian Breweries said the programme aims to support about 20,000 farmers by 2030. However, the expansion would depend on policy stability, access to financing, and continued import allowances during the transition period while local capacity is developed.
The efforts follow the impressive turnaround of the beer-maker as it turned the tables on the negative earnings position it reported for 2024, following a steep foreign exchange loss.
The brewer, which relies on imports for some 40 percent of its input costs, posted a net profit of N99.1 billion last year, aided by stable exchange rates. With local sales picking up, Nigerian Breweries posted revenue of N1.5 trillion, its highest ever.
Shares of Nigerian Breweries have gained about 9 percent on the local bourse since January, with a unit sold at N82 as of Friday, March 6, 2026. That ranks it as 90th on the NGX in terms of year-to-date performance.
