The Federal Government has said that Nigeria accounts for 67 per cent of global yam production, producing 67.2 million metric tonnes annually.
Sen. Aliyu Abdullahi, Minister of State for Agriculture and Food Security, disclosed this on Thursday in Abuja at the National Yam Advocacy Summit. 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”, was aimed at promoting modernisation and increased productivity in the yam sector.
Abdullahi noted that despite the impressive output, Nigeria currently meets only part of its estimated national demand of 120 million metric tonnes, leaving a shortfall of over 50 million metric tonnes.
“This shortfall underscores both the untapped potential of the sector and the urgent need to modernise the yam value chain, increase productivity and leverage Nigeria’s leadership to capture greater domestic and international market opportunities,” he said.
The minister commended IITA for its efforts in strengthening the yam value chain. He described yam as a crop that embodies prosperity, rural enterprise and national resilience for millions of Nigerians.
He explained that agricultural transformation remains a national priority under the Renewed Hope Agenda. According to him, President Bola Tinubu in 2023 declared a State of Emergency on Food Security, calling for data-driven and coordinated interventions to address challenges in the sector.
Abdullahi further revealed that a high-level technical team developed the programme “Ramping Up Staple Crops Production for Renewed Hope Food Security” in March 2025. He said the initiative leverages 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 said.
He added that the ministry is committed to farmer training, extension services, access to finance, mechanisation, structured aggregation and value-added processing. According to him, the goal is to transform Nigeria into a major exporter of yam products.
“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,” Abdullahi said.
Also speaking, 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, calling for the scaling up of seed technologies through last-mile seed entrepreneurs.
