‘Registering yam farmers after resumption of export means planning to fail’
An expert in export processing in Lagos, Dr. Usman Dahiru has queried the meaning of building a data base for yam processors one month after the resumption of export, saying the government failed to do the needful ahead of time and that is the reason for no other yam export after the first one.
According to him, data basing and profiling Yam Farmers, Processors and Marketers Association of Nigeria (YFPMAN) after resuming export is a clear misplacement of priority and it will only tell the international community who are receiving the products that we are not serious.
He said “registering the farmers ought to have come first so as to study and understand a sequence of supply and readiness for export in order to maintain a steady flow of exports than a one stop export and that all upon the noise”.
According to the Acting President of the association, Prof. Simon Irtwange, who spoke to journalists on Wednesday in Abuja, “the registration was to organise yam farmers across the country to actualise the targets of the export programme”.
“We are registering yam farmers, yam processors, yam marketers,” said Irtwange, who is also the Chairman, Technical Committee on Nigeria Yam Export Programme.
“At the corporate level, we are registering corporate organisations that are doing yam farming, corporate yam farmers, yam exporters, yam off-takers, yam aggregators and affiliated cooperatives.
Continuing, Irtwange said “Registration has commenced all over the country”.
“So, that process is ongoing now; it is after we have registered that all this training in collaboration with IITA can commence effectively.’’
He advised yam farmers across the country to form and join cooperatives societies to facilitate export of their produce.
YFPMAN disclosed further that “a container of yam is about 12,000 tubers and if you have 12,000 to 14,000 tubers as a cooperative, you can export a container”.
