How do we produce so much potatoes that surpass our demands -excess supplies of 105,000 metric tons potatoes and 2.6 million tons sweet potatoes -but yet import $30 million potatoes (products) yearly?

This is the thought that has been bothering me since I held a conversation on Potato Farming last week on X (Twitter) platform.

“We should just make better use of our potatoes” right? Your guess is as good as mine, and this appears the best solution.

It suggests wastage and is true. Potato is highly perishable and a lack of rapid, proper storage and transportation infrastructure accelerates spoilage and wastage.

However, Nigerians on average consume 3.2kg/capita potato annually, relatively low to other countries.

This portrays a lesser consumption to supply, with inevitable waste. It begs the question why Nigerians consume lesser potatoes, when food insecurity pervades and potato cheap and nutritious.

Ineffective distribution and economic access could be held accountable, however, evidences portray otherwise -especially with consumption trends.

Potato consumption has been climbing with population growth, urbanization and demand for convenience food. Our potato imports grew from 9,000 tons in 2000 to 40,000 tons yearly today.

Processed potatoes constitutes 93% of the $30 million Nigerian potato imports. Demand for ready-made and value-added potato products far outpaces demand for fresh potatoes.

The Guest at the potato discussion I hosted told me that we have to develop the potato industry to transform the potato value chain. This is true because industrialization helps absorb surplus/wasted potatoes and creates value added products that address real needs and value chains that generate opportunities and jobs.

Potato has a huge value chains and many of its by products are (a close substitute to essential industrial raw materials) highly demand -starch, ethanol and biogas, sugar, sorbitol, food additives, animal feed, nutrient supplements, cooking oil, and baking and food products, etc.

Let’s be clear, it’s not that we don’t produce value-added potato products. We produce fried potato chips, flakes, etc. These are primary and there are many more on the high end and also by-products, and which demand high technicalities and not just simple and parochial approach.

We export raw shea nut than value-added shea products. A lot lost in earnings. Thus, we banned raw shea nut exports to catalyze local value-added shea products manufacturing. But we were producing shea butter. We did not assess our capacity to make high-value added shea products.

A rapid ban could impact supply chains and livelihoods. Better thoughts would have ensured more strategic measures.

There is the realization that when we industrialize potato production, the wasted and surplus potatoes we experience may not be enough as inputs. While we produce tons of potatoes, our yield/ha is very low to global standards.

It is crucial this is known, internalized and considered for address. This is good to spur production and create more opportunities.

It therefore informs that as much as industrialization and value addition are the way, we need to think of them properly and wholly, the complexities of challenges and the road to ensuring them -assessing present, future and real challenges, evolving market realities and dynamics, other essential inputs and infrastructural readiness.

In summary, we have to catalyze the potato industry, it is not only a way to ensure our demands and needs are met by way of high-quality manufacturing but which also create opportunities for more earnings, jobs and improvement of the overall value chains, however these contingent on ensuring a favourable environment.