The Nigerian government has unveiled the Ramping Up Programme to increase national yam production yield from 10 metric tonnes to 30 metric tonnes per hectare as part of efforts to strengthen food security and boost farmer incomes across the country.
The programme forms part of the Renewed Hope Agenda’s broader agricultural transformation drive designed to address an over 50 million metric tonnes national supply deficit. It was launched during the National Yam Advocacy Summit organized by the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) in collaboration with the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security (FMAFS) in Abuja.
Speaking at the event, the Minister of State for Agriculture and Food Security, Aliyu Sabi Abdullahi, said the ministry’s Ramping Up Programme is anchored on three strategic pillars. These include increasing the total land area under yam cultivation, raising the current yield from 10 metric tonnes per hectare to 30 metric tonnes per hectare, and reducing post-harvest losses from 40 per cent to 25 per cent by the end of 2027.
He explained that, “The programme adopts global best practices, leveraging verified data, realistic projections, state-level comparative advantage, mechanization, cluster-based farming, post-harvest loss reduction, and market integration.
“A key innovation is the categorization 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.”
Abdullahi said that, “By achieving these targets, we aim to close the national demand gap, enhance farmer incomes, and position Nigeria to capture a fair share of the global yam market. With the current national productivity figure of 10 metric tonnes per hectare, Nigeria produces 67.2 million metric tonnes of yams annually, accounting for 67 per cent of global production.
“This shortfall underscores both the untapped potential of the sector and the urgent need to modernize the yam value chain, increase productivity, and leverage Nigeria’s leadership to capture greater domestic and international market opportunities.”
He highlighted the importance of yams to the country’s economy and culture, saying, “Yam occupies a unique place in Nigeria’s economy, culture, and food system. It is not merely a staple but a symbol of prosperity, rural enterprise, and national resilience. For millions of Nigerians, yams represent both food, wealth, sustenance and livelihood.”
According to him, the Ministry is committed to supporting future scaling of innovations through sustainable seed production, engagement with yam seed companies, adoption of high-yielding and climate-resilient varieties, extension services, farmer training, and facilitation of access to finance, mechanization, and structured aggregation.
He stated that, “We also recognize the vast opportunities in yam processing, storage innovation, and export development. By reducing post-harvest losses, standardizing quality, and improving traceability, Nigeria can move from being the largest producer of yam to becoming a major exporter of value-added yam products.”
The Minister stressed that the Summit must move beyond dialogue to coordinated action, noting that 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.
He further explained that under the leadership of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, agricultural transformation has been elevated to a national priority through the Renewed Hope Agenda. He recalled that in 2023, the President declared a State of Emergency on Food Security as a call for decisive, coordinated, and data-driven actions.
Abdullahi revealed that the Ministry, in collaboration with the Economic Management Team, initiated interventions to stabilize food supply, including boosting dry season production and structured grain releases. He said that recognizing that short-term stabilization must lead to long-term transformation, a high-level Technical Team was established in March 2025 to develop the comprehensive programme titled “Ramping Up Staple Crops Production for Renewed Hope Food Security.”
He commended IITA for its work on seed systems, saying, “I therefore want to commend IITA for advancing Early Generation Seed production and improving propagation technologies, which have the potential to increase productivity by 70 to 140 per cent while providing planting materials with low disease risk.
“The old Root and Tuber Expansion Programme has now been transformed into the Root and Tuber Industry and Export Development Programme under the Federal Department of Agriculture, yams, along with the various root and tuber crops, are in the process of getting the desired policy attention and actions.
“This National Yam Advocacy Summit has reaffirmed our commitment to achieving sustainable food sovereignty based on the core food demands, types, and consumption patterns of Nigerians, and thus, together, we will build a yam sector that is productive, profitable, resilient, and globally competitive,” he said.
In his remarks, the Deputy Director-General, Partnerships for Delivery and Scaling at IITA, Tahirou Abdoulaye, stated that, “IITA is collaborating with the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security on several projects to share technical expertise. Specifically on yams, it is expected that FMAFS will utilise innovations from years of research on yam seed systems at IITA to improve the yam value chain for the benefit of all stakeholders, especially farmers.
“The National Yam Advocacy Summit, organized by the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security in collaboration with the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture, is a good example that aims to utilise the seed system to promote development in the yam value chain.”
He added that yam breeding has produced good and valuable varieties adopted across West African countries, but noted that the varieties cannot do it alone. He said there is a need for an efficient seed system to ensure that improved varieties get to the people who need them most.
During his goodwill message, the Director General of the National Agricultural Seed Council, NASC, Fatuhu Mohammed, commended the organizers for bringing together critical stakeholders to deliberate on a crop that is both culturally symbolic and economically strategic to Nigeria.
According to him, Nigeria remains the largest producer of yam globally and the crop plays a vital role in food security and income generation.
“For us at NASC as you move into National Yam production expansion, quality assurance, regulatory, compliance remains central to ensure that improved yam economy translate into enhanced productivity, increased income and improved food and nutrition security,” Mohammed added.
