(Ecofin Agency) - The Nigerian Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Audu Ogbeh, has disclosed that the Chinese government is interested in importing dry yam from the country to meet industrial and domestic demands.

The Minister, who revealed this in Abuja on Thursday, noted that although Nigeria remains one of the World’s largest producers of yam, it was still not among yam exporting countries.

He even complained that Ghana, which produces far less than Nigeria, controls “Africa’s yam export market”. “I am not sure if Ghana produces as much yam as any state of the federation,” the official noted.

To reverse this trend while insuring that local demand does not suffer from the move to export the crop, the government intends to get more involved in yam production. More so as farmers are willing to increase production to meet both local and international demands.

Meanwhile, the Chairman of the just established Committee for Yam Export in Nigeria, Simon Irtwange, has said that Nigeria will start exporting yam to other countries within the next five months.

According to recent data from the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural development, Nigeria’s yam production stands at 37 million tones.

Anita Fatunji