Where a Lagos household buys its yam matters far more than when. FoodPrices Nigeria data from the Lagos State Ministry of Agriculture and Food Systems market survey shows a medium tuber costs ₦1,500 at Agbalata Market and ₦3,000 at Ajah Market in the week of 25 September 2026. That is a ₦1,500 gap and a 100% premium for the same item.
A Flat Week for the Mean
The citywide picture barely moved. The mean price of a medium yam across 10 markets eased from ₦2,390 to ₦2,380, a ₦10 or 0.42% decline on the week of 18 September. Against that mean, the Ajah price is 26.1% higher and the Agbalata price is 37.0% lower. The average tells a shopper little about what they will pay on the day.
What the Gap Costs a Household
Yam is a weekly staple in many Lagos homes, boiled, pounded or fried. A household that buys three medium tubers a week pays ₦4,500 at Agbalata Market and ₦9,000 at Ajah Market. Over four weeks that is ₦18,000 against ₦36,000, a ₦18,000 difference on the same quantity of food. Transport changes the sum, and a household will weigh the fare to a cheaper market against the saving.
Sweet Potatoes Show the Same Split
The other tuber in the survey tells the same story in reverse. Sweet potatoes held at a mean of ₦780 per kg across 10 markets, unchanged on the week. The cheapest kg is ₦500 at Agege Market and the dearest is ₦1,000 at Agbalata Market, also a 100% premium. Agbalata is the cheapest market in Lagos for yam and the dearest for sweet potatoes in the same week, so a shopper chasing the lowest price on both tubers needs two markets.
The Spring Forecast That Did Not Arrive
Yam was dearer earlier in the year. News Central reported on 26 April that tubers in Lagos were selling for ₦2,500 to ₦3,500, depending on size and origin, against ₦1,200 to ₦2,000 a year earlier. A trader at Oyingbo Market told News Central that yams bought at ₦2,500 to ₦3,000 "could sell for nearly double" by August. FoodPrices Nigeria data does not show that doubling. The late-September mean of ₦2,380 for a medium tuber sits below the bottom of the range News Central reported in April, and only Ajah, at ₦3,000, sits inside it. News Central also quoted an Oyingbo trader saying major markets generally charge less than neighbourhood markets, and the survey confirms that location, not the week, decides the yam price.
Live prices: foodprices.ng/real-time-prices/?category=Tubers