To boost the state’s revenue, create job opportunities, and encourage farmers, yam marketers across Taraba State and its environs have appealed to government at all levels to provide incentives and other facilities to enable the Wukari yam market, adjudged the largest yam market, in the country, to thrive.
The market, located in Taraba State’s Wukari local council, sits on four hectares of land and is known as the home of all varieties of yam from African soil, but it is gradually deteriorating into a shadow of its former self.
Speaking with the media on the deplorable conditions of the market, the yam marketers across the state said the Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) from the market is capable of placing Taraba among the top 10 richest states in Nigeria if well managed
According to the chairman of the yam market, Jerry Yakubu, the market, which has been exporting yam to all African countries, Asia, North and South America among other continents, have been left uncared for
Specifically, he noted that there is nowhere in the country where yams are produced in large quantities like Wukari. He therefore pleaded for government’s intervention and restructuring to boost the state’s revenue.
“This market needs to be upgraded to an international standard, in addition, the Wukari community needs a cargo airport to ease and enhance the transportation of goods and services within the North East and North Central geopolitical zones,” he said.
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While identifying lack of storage facilities as a major hindrance bedeviling the market, he said majority of their yams are stored through crude methods, which does not speak well of the market.
“There is a need for modern storage facilities in the area so as to ensure the durability of yams; we also need yam processing facilities. These would help in preserving the perishable product as yams can be processed in many ways for the usage of the people,” Yakubu said.
Furthermore, a yam farmer, Tsoken Abe, said it is high time the yam market is upgraded to an international standard.
Abe, who was of the view that the infrastructural facilities at the market at the moment need improvement, said the market has been playing a significant role in providing job opportunities to many people. He expressed optimism that if the market is upgraded, it stands the chance of providing several job opportunities to unemployed Nigerians
