Seasonal changes which is caused by climatic change increased the average price of yam tuber in the Nigeria market by 35 percent to N305.7 in June from 226.5 in January 2018, according to National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) food prices report.
Farmers have attributed this increase to the seasonal occurrences that occur every year.
Aboidun Olorundenro, an operations manager, Aquashoots Nigeria said, “It is a usual occurrence that happens every year. Yam are expensive due to the season we are in now. This is the time when old yam gives way for the new harvest, new yam. In Ekiti state, some people bought five tubers of yam for N2,000 so basically it is a seasonal thing.”
In January this year, the average price of yam tuber was N226.5, in February, it increased slightly to N230.9. In March it was N254.5, in April it was N279.6, In May it was N291.3 and in June it was N305.7.
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“Every year the prices go up and around this time the prices should go lower because the new yam will soon be out,” African Farmer Mogaji, chief executive officer, X-Ray Consulting Limited said in a telephone response.
In the first half of 2017, the average price of yam increased to N292.1 in June from N210.6 in January 2017.
Farmers are expects prices of yam to see a decline from August till the rest of the year due to the new yam harvest.
“The new yam is gradually coming out. So from August the prices of yam will begin to subside,” Olorundenro said.
This may actually happen based on the fact that the average prices of yam started to decrease to N211.6 in December from N343.4 in August 2017.
Nigeria is the largest producer of yam in the world, according to the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and rural development.
Yam is in the class of roots and tubers that is a stable of the Nigerian and West Africa diet, which provides some 200 calories of energy per capita daily.
