No Lagos market is cheap across the board, and yam proves it this week. The Ministry of Agriculture and Food Systems market survey for the week of 17 July 2026 puts Medium Sized Yam at ₦2,300 per tuber at Epe Main Market and ₦5,000 at Ile-Epo Market, a margin of ₦2,700 or 117% on a single tuber.
The Same Markets Rank Differently on Other Staples
Epe holds the cheapest yam in the city and, in the same survey week, the dearest paint of Oloyin beans at ₦5,700 and the dearest 50kg bag of imported short grain rice at ₦56,000. Ile-Epo, the dearest for yam, sits mid-table on imported short grain by the paint at ₦4,800 and at ₦1,000 for a derica of Oloyin beans. A trader or household that treats either market as generally cheap or generally expensive will be wrong on most aisles. Sourcing routes, not market reputation, set the price of each commodity.
The Full Yam Ladder
Three markets share second place at ₦2,800, namely Mushin Market, Sabo Market Yaba and Agege Market. Agbalata Market quotes ₦3,200, while Oyingbo Market and Fresh Food Hub Mushin both sit at ₦3,500. Mile 12 Market reaches ₦3,900 and Ajah Market ₦4,000 before Ile-Epo tops the table 47.9% above the Lagos average of ₦3,380.
A Margin That Reflects a Thin Season
Yam is the fastest rising staple in the survey, up 5.3% from ₦3,210 in the prior week, 13.4% over four weeks and 31.3% from ₦2,575 on 9 January. Reporting from the south east corroborates the direction. A News Agency of Nigeria market survey carried by Premium Times and Blueprint found medium tubers of old yam selling in Enugu for between ₦3,000 and ₦5,000 in early July against ₦2,000 to ₦3,500 in May. July sits at the thin end of the yam year, with old crop depleted and new harvest still moving through its ceremonial gate. AgricNews Digest listed the Odi Ogori Ba Uge festival in Bayelsa running from 27 July to 2 August, alongside earlier openings in Ekiti.
Supply Risk on Both Sides of the Trade
Traders in Enugu interviewed by Peoples Gazette pointed to insecurity keeping farmers from their fields and buyers avoiding travel to northern supply points. Closer to Lagos, Vanguard reported flood warnings across about 17 states between 21 and 27 July, and the National Bureau of Statistics named yam tuber and water yam among the drivers of June food inflation, as reported by Pulse Nigeria.
One Discrepancy in the Reference Data
The Lagos State Ministry of Agriculture and Food Systems price tracker lists a medium yam tuber at ₦2,000 in its July 2026 entry, below even the cheapest quote in this week's survey. The tracker figure sits closer to the Epe price than to the ₦3,380 citywide average, which is a wider gap than the same tracker shows on rice.
Ajah Market, the only market on the Ajah and Lekki axis reporting yam, sits 21% above the mainland average of ₦3,311. Nigeria's minimum wage is ₦70,000 a month, so the ₦2,700 margin equals 3.9% of that wage per tuber.
₦135,000 on Fifty Tubers, Before Costs
For anyone moving stock rather than cooking it, ₦2,700 a tuber is the widest single margin in this week's tuber data. On fifty tubers it represents ₦135,000 in gross difference before freight, handling and losses are deducted, and the two markets sit at opposite ends of the metropolis. Fuel is what decides whether the trade survives contact with the road, with Politics Nigeria reporting petrol at ₦1,400 per litre in late July after Dangote refinery raised its ex-depot price by 13.02%.
FoodPrices Nigeria prices every commodity market by market rather than ranking markets overall. Live prices: foodprices.ng/real-time-prices