₦airaland Forum

oruma19:
we don't need to allow buhari sell our product and make money for his pocket when we can sell and make money and feed our compatriots. People are hungry and need the yams here, we don't have excess to ship out.

Let discuss as fellow Biafrans

Pls answer this question


What is the most important duty of an Eastern Governor or Local Government Chairman or Councilor to the Eastern people.?

zoeshalom:
You would rather your people can't afford food items at the expense of getting fat IGR that may not be used to the benefit of the general populace? The ripple effect of what you are proposing in inflation induced by high cost of food items which your phantom IGR may not be to assuage the effects. And why must we export in raw form even if we have to? why not push for value addition that would more than double the returns of the farmers.

You are only seeing one perception


See this other perception to it


More markets internationally will lead to more unemployed & unpaid salary people go into agriculture to make more money.

As farming activities increase, quantity will become excess and prices will fall if the state governments buy only the exportable yams while the rest is pushed back into the local market.

Wat about reduction of senates and rep salaries, no debate on that too

EternalTruths:
You are only seeing one perception


See this other perception to it


More markets internationally will lead to more unemployed & unpaid salary people go into agriculture to make more money.

As farming activities increase, quantity will become excess and prices will fall if the state governments buy only the exportable yams while the rest is pushed back into the local market.

In as much as, i agree with to an extent that it might lead to people embracing farming, but a well fed population can garner energy to become productive, examples of countries like china Singapore and Malaysia serves as a template for growth i.e her country and citizens first before others. The international market opportunities would give us insignificant growth and job prospects, if don't add value to our products just like the oil sector!!!

I do not agree with this lawmaker, why?
Because he is oversimplifying the issue.
The problem of high food prices in Nigeria - especially yams is not necessarily due to a shortfall in production, it has more to do poor preservation practices and poor transportation infrastructure from the farms to the markets.

During the yam season, the price is next to nothing in the farms and quite low in the local yam markets, but by the time it gets to the major markets in major major cities and towns, the price would have risen exorbitantly. This is due to the very bad roads and high cost of transportation

Since the farmers practice poor preservative practices, there is little yam available during the off season thereby resulting in very high prices. Close to half of the yams in preservation get spoilt or are destroyed by insects and rodents.

This same situation happens as regards to other agricultural produce like tomatoes, onions, corn, etc.

Not only yam, they should stop exportation of gaari and palm oil too,

wirinet:
I do not agree with this lawmaker, why?
Because he is oversimplifying the issue.
The problem of high food prices in Nigeria - especially yams is not necessarily shortfall in production, it has more to do poor preservation practices and poor transportation infrastructure from the farms to the markets.

During the yam season, the price is next to nothing in the farms and quite low in the local yam markets, but by the time it gets to the major markets in major major cities and towns, the price would have risen exorbitantly. This is due to the very bad roads and high cost of transportation

Since the farmers practice poor preservative practices, there is little yam available during the off season thereby resulting in very high prices. Close to half of the yams in preservation get spoilt or are destroyed by insects and rodents.

This same situation happens as regards to other agricultural produce like tomatoes, onions, corn, etc.

Despite the glut in yam produce as you claim there is a hike in price for local consumption, what would now happen to when there is foreign patronage without your aforementioned problems rectified?

I disagree with him. Why complain about hunger and maintain food ban list. Why not focus efforts on structural issues we can solve domestically.

zoeshalom:
Despite the glut in yam produce as you claim there is a hike in price for local consumption, what would now happen to when there is foreign patronage without your aforementioned problems rectified?

I had taken time out to explain the hike in price for local consumption of yam and I explained that it was not due to shortfall in production. A client told me he travelled home last week ( somewhere in kwara), and that yam is so cheap at this time that he was unable to carry N2000 worth of yam on his journey back to Lagos. He mentioned that each tuber of big yam is about N100, now that same tuber of yam will sell between N500 to N800 in Lagos.

Nawteemaxie:
I should watch the video? With this 20mb wey I borrow?

Lol

This lawmaker is simply spouting utter nonsense, and I find it quite worrisome how many commenters are so quick to endorse his gibberish in the name of "common sense"! Economics should really be made a compulsory subject in Nigerian secondary schools, going by how little understanding of the subject one sees on Nairaland (and elsewhere Nigerians comment).

As wirinet pointed out, banning the exportation of yams will not solve any of the structural problems which make it so difficult for Nigerian farmers to get their goods to market domestically: terrible roads, non-existent railways, lack of effective storage facilities, poor electricity supply, etc. I've seen estimates from the World Bank that the typical African farmer loses 50% of his entire crop before even getting to market, and then one has to consider the additional losses to be incurred when re-distributing food items across regions.

Simply slapping a ban on exports doesn't do anything whatsoever ever to fix any of these issues; what it does do is discourage farmers who might otherwise have been encouraged to try growing yams at a larger scale, in the hope of earning more from exports, from even getting into the business at all. It isn't the small-time subsistence farmers who are working tiny little plots who will care, but the bigger farmers who have access to more capital, and who can bid to act as suppliers to international buyers like American and European supermarket chains. But guess what? These sorts of larger-scale farmers are precisely the kind who will be most capable of driving down domestic prices, as they can invest in the necessary infrastructure to reduce their losses and get more of their output to domestic markets.

Farmers are like any other people trying to make a living running a business: they will direct their efforts to where the profits are most likely to be. Prevent them from having access to foreign markets, and you can expect them to react accordingly, by diverting their production to goods without such restrictions, or simply getting out of farming altogether. Nigeria's tragedy is that the typical political appointee is evidently as economically ignorant as the typical loudmouthed Nairalander.

Guyman02:
Why wont we support him, you should export the excess of what you produce or as trade by barter, APC is desperate to put up a facade of its Agricultural 'revolution' yielding results that they mop up yam tubers in the local market and send to America, spending more on media advert than the profit they hope to make from the export.

Indians and Lebanese merchants are in Plateau and Mambila areas planting Irish potatoes and processing same for our local and regional supermarket chains and targeting west African markets while our Govt and citizens are busy making a mockery of ourselves with yam and Ugu exports we dont have enough.

I just watched the viral video of the school feeding programme where primary school kids are fed with N50 bread to 4 pupils, why not substitute the bread with the available yam if we think we have enough yams.

Let us start by targeting African markets, when we improve we can can then look for markets in Europe and America which imposes more stringent conditions on every import that comes into their countries.

Truth

omohayek:
This lawmaker is simply spouting utter nonsense, and I find it quite worrisome how many commenters are so quick to endorse his gibberish in the name of "common sense"! Economics should really be made a compulsory subject in Nigerian secondary schools, going by how little understanding of the subject one sees on Nairaland (and elsewhere Nigerians comment).

What is the school curriculum like Nigeria? I read they don't teach history, economics or take government class. The education system looks really spooky in nigeria.

EternalTruths:
Yam sold at yam producing areas are cheaper to yam sold at non producing areas.


Example, as of 8 years ago, if you go to miango local government area of Plateau state, a bag of corn is sold for #500. That same corn was sold for #4000 in Lagos due to the inability to get the yam from Plateau to Lagos.


So we produce lots of food that don't get to the urban centers but get wasted at the rural centers.

lol, even if a measure of corn was #40 9yrs back, a bag of it couldn't have been #500 in miango jos, a normal bag contains roughly 50 measures, do the math besides the cheapest corn has been yrs back was #50-70 per measure

God bless this legislator . You make sense. It's senseless to export goods you don't have in abundance in your own country.

Senseless to export what you don't have in abundance in your own country.

Blue3k:
What is the school curriculum like Nigeria? I read they don't teach history, economics or take government class. The education system looks really spooky in nigeria.

No, they don't teach any of the subjects you mention, but I've heard that they do make space for mandating that secondary schools students learn secretarial shorthand! The country's educational system, like virtually everything else, has become a bad joke, and it clearly shows on this forum.

love you my hon.

zoeshalom:
In as much as, i agree with to an extent that it might lead to people embracing farming, but a well fed population can garner energy to become productive, examples of countries like china Singapore and Malaysia serves as a template for growth i.e her country and citizens first before others. The international market opportunities would give us insignificant growth and job prospects, if don't add value to our products just like the oil sector!!!

What are the criterias for measuring self sufficiency in yam production.?

wirinet:
I do not agree with this lawmaker, why?
Because he is oversimplifying the issue.
The problem of high food prices in Nigeria - especially yams is not necessarily shortfall in production, it has more to do poor preservation practices and poor transportation infrastructure from the farms to the markets.

During the yam season, the price is next to nothing in the farms and quite low in the local yam markets, but by the time it gets to the major markets in major major cities and towns, the price would have risen exorbitantly. This is due to the very bad roads and high cost of transportation

Since the farmers practice poor preservative practices, there is little yam available during the off season thereby resulting in very high prices. Close to half of the yams in preservation get spoilt or are destroyed by insects and rodents.

This same situation happens as regards to other agricultural produce like tomatoes, onions, corn, etc.

We might be on opposite camps but what you said is the thing I have being trying to enlighten people here.

Get the crops from the rural areas to the Urban centers and ensure we can preserve the crops all year round.

EternalTruths:
The lawmaker is wrong.

What he should emphasize on are

1) Produce yams that meet international standards.

2) Grow more yams for both local & foreign consumption in order to boost our dollar inflow.

3) Process that yam into much useful products that can boost our dollar inflow.

What will you do with the dollar?

psucc:
Op are you asking or . . . ? I'm sure you heard the last export were rejected in the UK for being substandard?

Go to the market and ask the price of an average tuber of yam. You'll understand why the Senator made that statement.

not Senator... house of reps member

This is the kind of representation we want. I will vote for him again and again if he's from my constituency. I totally support his views.

michaelisaiah:
Bcoz he doesn't want poor to benefit in it that's y
He know only about he's pocket

what is dis one sayn

Johnrake69:
What will you do with the dollar?

Develop non-agricultural & non oil sectors of the economy so that in few years time to come, our economy can be fully diversified.

EternalTruths:
You are wrong.

We should approach the countries we intend to export to and ask them the type of yam they want and if possible, collect the specie from them and mass produce them in Nigeria in order to help States increase their IGR.


The states can then be told to partner with local farmers to increase their export so that not only will they increase their IGR but some unpaid civil servants can generate money from the yams they export through their state governments.

You are spot on. The lawmaker did not address the reason why our export was rejected.

No reasonable government allows substandard products into its own markets. We need to step up our game for our own health and for financial gain.

Brugo:
You are spot on. The lawmaker did not address the reason why our export was rejected.

No reasonable government allows substandard products into its own markets. We need to step up our game for our own health and for financial gain.

Even the way he talks will prove that he was not properly taught in school.

Probably did not study economics in school.


How does he think we can diversify our economy if we don't capture foreign markets.

kay29000:
His English was bad but he made a lot of sense. Why export when the one we have isn't enough...that would just drive up the price of the little yam remaining and greatly affect the masses.

He's consistently made more sense and showed more commitment than many that speak Queen's English in that chamber.

The honourable lawmaker is right. I have been deliberating on this matter since the issue of exporting yams came up. He has said it all.
it is a fact that people are hungry in this nation.
and it shows that there is food shortage in this country.

psucc:
Op are you asking or . . . ? I'm sure you heard the last export were rejected in the UK for being substandard?

Go to the market and ask the price of an average tuber of yam. You'll understand why the Senator made that statement.

did you even find out the reason they gave for the rejection or you just wanted to celebrate bad headline ? Among the yams rejected , many, a large chunk was accepted.


How can you keep a container of yam for 21 days in the name of inspection and expect it to be fine? That's what happened.