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The technical committee on Nigeria Yam Export Programme is working with the University of Agriculture, Umudike and the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) to produce seed yams for export. The committee was charged with the responsibilities of finding markets for Nigerian yams in the world and providing market information on weekly prices of yam at the major marketing centres abroad. Speaking in Lagos, Prof. Simon Irtwang, chairman of the committee, disclosed that the seed yams would be given to farmers to plant exclusively for export. “One of the challenges with the flag-off of yams exported in June 2017 was that the yams were exposed to the sun before being selected for export. Once yams are exposed in the sun for long, the process of decay sets in gradually. “With special seed yams, the structures to have a good quality of seed yams for export will be set in motion. This will help and ensure that future yam exports withstand the temperatures in a...

Nigeria has set a target of about 5,760 tonnes of yams for export in 2018 as part of a programme to boost yam export and increase the country’s foreign exchange earnings through agriculture, the Technical Committee on Nigeria Yam Export Programme has said. Professor Simon Irtwange, Chairman of the committee, who disclosed this yesterday in Abuja said requests for the monthly supply of five containers has already been received from the United States which amounted to 120 tonnes of yams monthly and 1,440 tonnes of yams in a year. He said, “If everything works out well, the US authorities say they will need about five containers every month and one container contains 24 tonnes of yams. We are trying to aggregate the demand from other countries; so by the time we put everything together, we should be thinking of exporting about 20 containers of yams on a monthly basis.” Going by this projection, the committee hopes to export a total of 480 tonnes of yams every month which t...