POLITICAL UPDATES: -Northern Yam Farmers Plan To Sell Yams To Raise N5billion For Buhari-Osinbajo Presidential Campaign

Nigeria is by far the world’s largest producer of yams, accounting for over 70–76 percent of the world production. According to the Food and Agricultural Organization report, in 1985, Nigeria produced 18.3 million tonnes of yam from 1.5 million hectares, representing 73.8 percent of total yam production in Africa According to 2008 figures, yam production in Nigeria has nearly doubled since 1985, with Nigeria producing 35.017 million metric tonnes with value equivalent of US$5.654 billion.In perspective, the world’s second and third largest producers of yams, Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana, only produced 6.9 and 4.8 tonnes of yams in 2008 respectively.

Meanwhile, A group of yam farmers across some northern states in the country have pledged to support the All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential candidate, Gen. Mohammadu Buhari’s campaign in the 2015 general elections with N5 billion. The group disclosed this in a statement made available to NAN in Jos on Today.Rev. Jacob Musa, the Public Relations Officer (PRO) of the farmers under the name “Buhari-Osinbajo Presidential Appeal Campaign Fund (BOPCAF), said that farmers from 10 states of the federation were planning the fund raiser.

Farmers from Taraba, Nasarawa, Plateau, Adamawa, Benue, Kogi, Kwara, Niger and Kaduna states as well as the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja, would feature at the occasion. They plan to raise the money by selling five million tubers of yam at a special price of N1,000 each towards raising the said N5 billion in support of the APC candidate.