Over 70 per cent of yearly yam farming all over the world takes place in Nigeria. National Root Crops Research Institute (NRCRI) gave the figure in a report it issued in Abuja, yesterday.
Presenting the report, Director of Crop Research Operations Department, Dr. Nnamdi Eke-Okoro, said Nigeria is leading producer of yam, cassava and sweet potato globally with 34, 59, and 30 metric tonnes.
“Development of improved varieties is over 50 for cassava, 30 for yam and five for sweet potato. Nigeria accounts for over 70 per cent of yams produced in the world. But to move into global standard, there must be collaboration between the ports authority and other stakeholders in the country. This is why NRCRI can collaborate with other agencies to speedy up yam export chain and to reduce the level of rejections of our products abroad,” he said.
Explaining importance of NRCRI in global yam export chain could not be over- emphasised, Eke-Okoro said foreign markets are yearning for yams and are gradually expanding their scopes.
Therefore, he explained further, “there must be good
agronomic practices for sustenance and acceptance to reposition yam as an
export crop all made easier because the institute has advanced laboratories
equipped with latest state of the art for determination of food quality traits,
physic-chemical analysis, and nutrient testing, among others.”
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