{"id":13303,"date":"2026-06-20T12:52:22","date_gmt":"2026-06-20T12:52:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dev.iita.org\/news-item\/nigerian-yam-market-gets-international-market-access\/"},"modified":"2026-06-29T19:03:57","modified_gmt":"2026-06-29T19:03:57","slug":"nigerian-yam-market-gets-international-market-access","status":"publish","type":"news-item","link":"https:\/\/iita.org\/fr\/news-item\/nigerian-yam-market-gets-international-market-access\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cNigerian\u201d yam market gets international market access"},"content":{"rendered":"
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VIPs in the yam export flag-off ceremony in the Lagos port<\/p>\n\n<\/div>\nThe first batch of temperature-controlled shipping containers containing yam tubers from Nigeria have been approved for export to the United States of America and the United Kingdom. Hurray!\n\nThis remarkable event was marked by a flag-off ceremony which took place on 29 June at the Lilypond\ncontainer terminal, Apapa, Lagos. The event was well attended by public and private sector dignitaries including Nigeria\u2019s Honorable Minister of Agriculture Chief Audu Ogbeh, representatives of State governments, and our very own\u00a0Kenton Dashiell<\/u>, IITA Deputy Director General, Partnerships for Delivery, and\u00a0Robert Asiedu<\/u>, West Africa Regional Director, Research for Development representing IITA\nat the event.\n\nAccording to Dashiell who delivered a goodwill message on behalf of IITA Director General\u00a0Nteranya Sanginga<\/u>, the yam export event marked a major milestone in Nigeria as IITA turns 50 years in 2017; it demonstrates IITA\u2019s commitment to transforming agriculture in Africa, ending hunger and poverty, and creating long-term solutions to the challenges of economic development. He emphasized the active role played by the\u00a0AfricaYam<\/u>\u00a0et\u00a0YIIFSWA<\/u>\u00a0projects in developing more productive and pest-resistant yam varieties to suit the needs of farmers and consumers in diverse agroecological zones as well as providing technologies for rapid multiplication in seed yam production.\n\nThis hallmark event ushered a new dawn for yam farmers, processors, and stakeholders across the yam value chain in Nigeria who will benefit from increased market opportunities for their produce. This is expected to create job opportunities and contribute to the country\u2019s economic development. Chief Ogbeh shared his vision for yam farmers in Nigeria and emphasized the Federal Ministry of Agriculture\u2019s support to ensuring a zero-reject of agricultural produce exports from Nigeria.\n

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Ken Dashiell (left) and Robert Asiedu (right)\nanswering questions from the media.<\/p>\n\n<\/div>\nChief Ogbeh addressed the concerns of stakeholders who expressed fears over the possibility of yam scarcity and high prices as a result of limited availability of yam in the domestic market. The minister affirmed that postharvest losses account for a significant part of yam wastage annually and export markets provide an opportunity to earn income for yam which would have been lost. He assured stakeholders that the government is working through the National Centre of Agricultural Mechanization (NCAM<\/u>) to deliver mechanized solutions capable of making yam mounds and harvesting which will significantly reduce the costs of yam production.\n\nWith the stage set for yam export, it is essential that certified clean seed yams are planted to maximize the earning potential of producers while also adopting recommended agronomic practices. Investments in mechanization, yam conditioning center, and refrigerated shipping containers among others will enhance the yam value chain.\n\nAsiedu also shared his expert thoughts on yam production in Nigeria with Channels TV. Watch video here (starts at 6:58).","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The first batch of temperature-controlled shipping containers containing yam tubers from Nigeria have been approved for export to the United States of America and the United Kingdom. Hurray!<\/p>","protected":false},"featured_media":16671,"template":"","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}}},"tags":[1899],"science-area":[],"program":[],"location":[32],"news-type":[],"hub":[61],"crop":[],"impact-areas":[],"item-year":[195],"class_list":["post-13303","news-item","type-news-item","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-iita-news-no-2388","location-nigeria","hub-western-africa","item-year-195"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/iita.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-item\/13303","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/iita.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-item"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/iita.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/news-item"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/iita.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-item\/13303\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":24589,"href":"https:\/\/iita.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-item\/13303\/revisions\/24589"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iita.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16671"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/iita.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13303"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iita.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13303"},{"taxonomy":"science-area","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iita.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/science-area?post=13303"},{"taxonomy":"program","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iita.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/program?post=13303"},{"taxonomy":"location","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iita.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/location?post=13303"},{"taxonomy":"news-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iita.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-type?post=13303"},{"taxonomy":"hub","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iita.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/hub?post=13303"},{"taxonomy":"crop","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iita.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/crop?post=13303"},{"taxonomy":"impact-areas","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iita.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/impact-areas?post=13303"},{"taxonomy":"item-year","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iita.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/item-year?post=13303"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}