Africa’s most popular country, Nigeria may soon be left with no option than to start importing yam for local consumption from China, the Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (FMARD), Ernest Umakihe, has submitted.
Umakihe stated this while speaking at a stakeholders workshop on repositioning yam as an export crop.
Africa Today News, New York reports that he bemoaned the fact that Nigeria is not included among the nations that export yams, even though the country produces 67% of the world’s yams.
He voiced worries that, given Nigerians’ preference for imported items and China’s foray into the yam export industry, Chinese yam would soon be discovered in Nigerian kitchens if precautions are not taken. This would increase the number of unemployed Nigerians and decrease the income of yam farmers.
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Umakihe said Nigerian’s first attempt at exporting yam was by Nasarawa State Government in 2009 with 8.5 metric tonnes and within the same month another 66 metric tonnes were exported in two shipments, followed by Oyo State, but without success.
He also said that the Ministry’s attempt to revive yam export in 2017 was poorly handled.
“It was only in 2017 that the Federal Ministry of Agriculture under the leadership of Chief Audu Ogbeh, then Minister, Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development organised the first flag-off ceremony (of yam) with a batch of 72 tons to UK and USA. I believe these were done without proper planning before the execution. Aside the mentioned attempts, nothing much has been heard of the yam export from Nigeria,” he said.
Speaking on the theme of the workshop, ‘Prospects and Challenges of yam export in Nigeria’, he said it is the duty of Nigerians to find out what went wrong and how to address.