If all goes according to plan, Nigeria may be exporting a massive amount of yams in 2018.
On Monday, January, 1 2018, the chairman of the Technical committee on Nigeria Yam Export Programme, Prof. Simon Irtwange said it will be supplying the United States over the course of 2018 with 1,440 tonnes of yams on their request.
This will be sent in five containers which amount to 120 tonnes of yams monthly and 1,440 tonnes of yams in a year. It is in line with the Technical Committee’s aim to export about 480 tonnes of yams per month in 2018.
He said, "If everything works out well, the U.S. 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."
Irtwange also said that the target would be achieved if all the challenges which yam exporters experienced in 2017 were overcome.
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What are the challenges being faced by the committee?
Irtwange said that the committee had forwarded a report to the Federal Government on possible ways of tackling the problems and that some of these problems include, "On the issue of transportation, we need cold trucks; we also need yam conditioning centers. Presently, there is only one conditioning center owned by the Nigeria Export Promotion Council in Zaki-Ibiam, Benue State, but that is not enough, we need more."
"On the issues of packaging and production of cartons for the yams, we are also hoping to have local investors. Right now, there are only two companies that can do this for us and the problem is that in most cases, they don’t take orders for little quantities of cartons for production."
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So far, what plans are in place to achieve their aim of exportation?
"We have a work plan and we have a lot of activities that we have already penciled down. We are working with relevant government agencies to provide the necessary support for the programme."
Irtwange said that the Nigerian Ports Authority had made available the Ikorodu Lighter Terminal to facilitate the packaging and movement of yams meant for export and that the committee was also working with the NPA to get people who would invest in constructing yam pack houses at the terminal.
"That way, we will avoid the gridlock in Apapa because now, we are using batches to move the yams from Ikorodu to Apapa," he added.