No hunger in Nigeria, we'll soon be exporting yams to China - Chief Audu Ogbe, Minister of Agriculture

The Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Chief Audu Ogbeh, denied claims of hunger in Nigeria saying people who complain of hunger is a calculated attempt to smear the good image of the Buhari-led administration.

He said yesterday in Abuja that Nigeria would soon begin exporting dry yam to China while inaugurating the committee on Nigerian yam export programme.

According to him, “The Chinese were here a few days ago and were asking for dry yam. I wondered why they wanted it dried. The Chinese are very clever, they said 40% of yam is water and they don’t want the water, they want the yams. So if we have to ship yams to China, we have to find a way of drying it,” he said.

Speaking further the minister said official figures from the Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO) show Nigeria produces 61.7% of total global production but does not have a share of the yam export market.

“Unfortunately, we are not among the yam exporters-that is something to worry us. Ghana seems to control the African export market. I am not sure if they produce as much yams as Niger, Benue, Ebonyi or Ekiti states,” he said.

Recall, the Minister also said last week that Nigeria has become the second largest rice producer in the world - a claim which many people call in question.