The Federal Government says Nigeria leads global root and tuber crop production with over 60 million tonnes of cassava and yam, representing 68 to 76 per cent of world output.
The Minister of State for Agriculture and Food Security, Sen. Abdullahi Aliyu, said this at the 2026 Post Harvest Connect and Root, Tuber and Banana Conference on Wednesday in Abuja.
The connect convened by the Nigerian Stored Produce Research Institute (NSPRI) in collaboration with other stakeholders is themed “Scaling Post-harvest Technologies for enhanced productivity and competitiveness”.
The minister emphasised that in spite of the country production capacity at the global space, huge amount of the produce were wasted due to lack of proper storage facilities or post-harvest solutions.
“Though our production capacity is high, the country challenge is post-harvest losses.
“Many of our farmers end up with wastage, some up to 30 per cent to 40 per cent of their produce, and some in the fruit and vegetable segments lose up to 60 per cent to 70 per cent.
“If we work out a programme to reduce post-harvest loss by even 10 per cent, for example, more food will be available, which will also impact on affordability, because the more you have, the less the price.
“Government concern is how farmers will benefit from their efforts, but most importantly, how our citizens will be able to also afford to have food on their table.
“And these factors or forces are what the Federal Government and all governments are dealing with on a year-on-year basis,” he said.
The minister emphasised that the connect was basically to see how stakeholders could develop programmes that would enable farmers to benefit maximally from their produce and citizens are able to have fair price in the market.
“Underscoring these challenges, we decided it is important to bring everybody together.
“Those involved in the post-harvest ecosystem, whether producing technologies that farmer will use, either on-farm or even off-farm, because some of the post-harvest losses start even at the level of the farm.
“We are connecting because we have a national challenge. The national food security challenge is one that affects all of us.
“Looking at the dimensions of food security, talking about availability of food, accessibility, affordability and of course that food being in the right nutritional content on a sustainable basis.
“It is when this is complete, working together that you can claim to have food security. And so we believe the food culture in Nigeria is so diverse”.
Abdullahi said the intention of the connect was purposely for stakeholders in industry, private sector, research, academics, development partners, and all other actors would be able to rub minds and share ideas.
According to him, through the gesture they will be come out with national solutions or even programmes that will help us to deepen the value proposition that the post-harvest sector has to offer.
“Because we are the world’s number one producer of roots and tuber, we actually have a post-harvest programme that is designed to ensure farmers are able to reduce their harvest,” he said.
Prof. Lateef Sanni, Executive Director, NSPRI, said they decided to focus on root, tuber and banana because of their inherent economic potentials and value to the country.
Sanni who identified Nigeria as the highest producer of the crops globally specifically said that each of the produce had numerous value chain that when fully harnessed they would be of utmost benefit to the farmers, consumers and the entire country.
“There is a need for us to prioritise attention to them, so that we can maximise the rich potential,” he said
Sanni identified the connect as another opportunity to showcase existing and potential post-harvest solutions at public and private levels.
“Public and private sector collaboration is key to address post-harvest challenges.
“Government alone cannot do it, we need private sector collaboration, financial institutions and post-harvest credit facilities
“We need private sector engagement, donors among others to address the country’s huge post-harvest burden.
“The more we have private sector coming in the more we are assured of business activities which will be more profitable to the farmers among others,” he said.
