Abuja: The Federal Government has announced that Nigeria accounts for 67 per cent of global yam production, with an annual output of 67.2 million metric tonnes. This underscores the country’s dominance in the staple crop and highlights its central role in global food security.
Sen. Aliyu Abdullahi, Minister of State for Agriculture and Food Security, disclosed this at the National Yam Advocacy Summit on Thursday in Abuja.
The event was convened by the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) in partnership with the ministry.
The summit, themed “Catalysing a National Agenda for Yam Value Chain Transformation and Improved Seed Technologies”, aimed to promote modernisation and increased productivity in the sector.
Abdullahi noted that, despite impressive output, Nigeria meets only a portion of its 120 million metric tonnes demand, resulting in a shortfall of over 50 million metric tonnes.
He explained that this supply gap demonstrates both the sector’s untapped potential and the urgent need for modernising the yam value chain to boost productivity for domestic and export markets.
The minister commended IITA for strengthening the yam value chain, describing yams as a crop that embodies prosperity, rural enterprise and national resilience for millions of Nigerians.
He said agricultural transformation is a national priority under the Renewed Hope Agenda. He emphasised that in 2023, President Bola Tinubu declared a State of Emergency on Food Security to prompt data-driven, coordinated interventions.
Abdullahi said a high-level technical team developed the programme “Ramping Up Staple Crops Production for Renewed Hope Food Security” in March 2025, leveraging mechanisation, cluster-based farming, post-harvest loss reduction, and market integration.
“This programme adopts global best practices, leveraging verified data, realistic projections, state-level comparative advantage, mechanisation, cluster-based farming, post-harvest loss reduction and market integration.
“A key innovation is the categorisation of staple crops into tiers based on national spread, consumption patterns, and strategic importance.
“Yam is officially classified as a Tier-1 crop, with nationwide demand and consumption, confirming its status as a priority crop central to food security and economic growth”.
He explained the ministry aims to transform Nigeria into a major yam exporter by focusing on farmer training, mechanisation, access to finance, aggregation, value-added processing, and extension services.
“The government alone cannot transform the yam sector. Success requires collaboration among MDAs, research institutions, private investors, state governments, development partners, farmer cooperatives, and youth agripreneurs,” he said.
Abdoulaiye Tahirou, IITA Deputy Director General, said the summit seeks to utilise improved seed systems to promote development across the yam value chain, enhance livelihoods, food security, and preserve natural resources.
“Yam is our crop, and only we can defend it and ensure it is always available for our people,” he said. He emphasised the need for united, sustained effort to elevate Nigeria’s yam sector, urging all stakeholders to champion innovation and partnership for a thriving future.