By Godwin Tyonongu
A survey carried out by the Blueprint has indicated that the Maraba Yam Market at the moment remains the main hub of yam supply to residents of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) and environs.
Farmers mainly from across the North-Central states, including Benue, Plateau, Nasarawa, Taraba, Niger, Kogi, Kwara, as well as Edo, Ekiti and Ondo states are the ones off-loading their staple products there on daily basis.
The survey further showed that any species of yam consumed in the country can be found even as the prices of the product may not be fixed as they relatively depend on the forces of demand and supply.
It is only the old yam that is expensive at the moment due to scarcity but the new yam being harvested this season is sold at cheaper rates. From June to August of every season, the old yam is expensive to get and during the period the number of yam dealers would have to drop drastically.
During this period, most of the yam dealers withdraw from the trade because the consumers themselves usually have a choice of taking to potatoes and corn consumption because of their cheap prices.
At present, the Chairman Yam Dealers Association, Mararaba, Abubakar Adams, has slashed down the N1, 000 levy usually paid by dealers and consumers alike whenever they purchased up to 100 tubers of yam in the market to N300, a strategy which has been used as a bait to woo more farmers to the yam hub.
A dealer, Alhaji Dalibi Mohammed said, “at Zubwa if you buy yam up to 100 tubers, you are asked to pay N700 levy but here they are collecting N300, therefore it is making consumers to buy a higher number of tubers from us.
“Again, our leader has a good rapport with the local authorities, you can see that out of the N300 being collected as fee for the 100 tubers bought, N100 is being remitted to the Karu local government council. This major decision has made people to be excited to bring yam from all over the country to the Mararaba market”.
Auwal Ibrahim, who oversees the wholesalers section, told Blueprint that in the past, it was only the dealers who were responsible for taking decisions at the market but the tide at present has changed, with retailers, wholesalers and dealers respectively having control over their respective jurisdiction.
