World’s biggest yam producer targets $5 billion in exports

Nigeria, the world’s largest yam producer, expects to rake in $5 billion annually in the near future from yam exports, as economic diversification efforts gain steam.

Falling oil prices and its rippling effect on government revenues and foreign exchange earnings have prompted Africa’s largest economy to seek revenue diversification in other sectors such as agriculture.

If all goes according to plan, Nigeria will tomorrow export a consignment of 72 metric tons of yam to Europe and the US, thereby setting the stage for the country’s return to the global yam value chain as a dominant player in the world market, currently dominated by West African neighbour, Ghana.

A statement provided to BusinessDay by the ministry of agriculture, indicated the country hopes to rake in $5 billion annually in the near future from the export of yams. Calculating Nigeria’s 2014 yam production of 45 million metric tonnes at a conservative estimate of $300 per tonne, gives a total value of $13.5 billion for the raw production.

“Nigeria’s potential in yam value chain still remains to be unlocked, offering enormous opportunities in the future. But these cannot be turned to wealth until business constraints are dealt with, paving way for generation of reliable data to inform appropriate policy interventions” said Audu Ogbeh, Minister for Agriculture and rural development.

Nigeria is regarded as the largest producer of yams, with production averaging 70 percent of the world production. Data from the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) shows that Nigeria produced 45 million metric tonnes (MMT) of Yam in 2014, almost 10 MMT growth from the 35.6 million tonnes produced the previous year, 2013.

Audu Ogbeh, in a June 26 tweet on Nigeria’s comparative advantage in production, wrote that “If nearby Ghana that does not grow anywhere near one tenth of the yams we grow, is targeting $4bn in yam exports, we can do better.”

While Nigeria is the world’s largest producer of Yam, Ghana is the leading exporter of yam globally. FAO data shows that Ghana produced 7.1 million metric tonnes of yam in 2014, while Nigeria produced almost seven-folds with 45 million metric tonnes.

CALEB OJEWALE