A new report unveiled yesterday has shown that consumption of whole-grain rice in Nigeria remains extremely low, despite a seven per cent year-on-year rise in the consumption of refined rice.

The pattern, experts warn, is worsening the country’s triple burden of malnutrition. The findings emerged from Nigeria’s first large-scale consumer research on fortified whole grains, conducted between 2024 and 2025, and disseminated at a workshop organised in Abuja by the Fortified Whole Grain Alliance (FWGA) in collaboration with TechnoServe Nigeria.

The workshop brought together representatives of the Federal Ministries of Health, Agriculture and Education; the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC); Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON); the Renewed Hope National Home-Grown School Feeding Programme, and state officials from Kano and Ogun.

Presenting the report to journalists, FWGA Managing Director, David Kamau, said that the alliance identified four main obstacles, including limited availability of whole-grain rice in markets, low consumer acceptability, longer cooking time, and perceptions that whole-grain products are of poor quality or contain stones.

Kamau highlighted the nutritional and environmental benefits of whole grains, adding that “with whole grains, you retain all the nutrients in the rice, including protein, and these advantages make whole grains a more sustainable option than refined rice.”

He said: “What we have in front of us today is more than research; it’s a roadmap. It shows where the system is working, where it’s stalling, and what it will take to make whole-grains an everyday reality.

“From the research work that has been done, we have seen a significant increase in consumption of refined foods, and studies have been done which have shown an association of increased risk of disease, such as non-communicable diseases, such as type two diabetes, and we have seen that increased consumption of whole-grain foods addresses challenges of malnutrition.”