The Federal Government says 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 at the National Yam Advocacy Summit on Thursday in Abuja.
It 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 in spite of the impressive output, Nigeria 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 strengthening the yam value chain, describing yam 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, noting that President Bola Tinubu in 2023 declared a State of Emergency on Food Security, calling for data-driven and 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 added that the ministry is committed to farmer training, extension services, access to finance, mechanisation, structured aggregation, and value-added processing, aiming 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,” 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, calling for the scaling up of seed technologies through last-mile seed entrepreneurs.
