Medium Sized Yam posted the largest mean price decline of any item tracked in the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Systems' Lagos market survey for the week of 24 July 2026, falling 9.6% from ₦3,380 to ₦3,055 per tuber.
This Week's Mean Price
The mean was calculated across ten Lagos markets. The cheapest tuber was recorded at ₦2,150 in Ile-Epo Market, while the priciest reached ₦3,500 in Mile 12 Market, a gap of more than ₦1,300 between the two ends of the city.
Why This Move Stands Out
Two separate forces should have pushed yam higher this week, which makes a fall of this size the most puzzling number in the survey.
The first is fuel. Yam reaches Lagos by road from producing states in the middle belt and the north, and haulage is a large share of what a Lagos buyer ultimately pays. Dangote Refinery raised its ex-depot petrol price to ₦1,215 per litre on 22 July, up 13.02% from ₦1,075 before it suspended naira sales on 14 July, and filling stations in Lagos moved pump prices to around ₦1,300 from roughly ₦1,220 earlier in the same week. That increase fell inside this survey window.
The second is the direction of the year. Vanguard reported in April 2026 that tubers selling for between ₦1,200 and ₦2,000 in the same period of 2025 had climbed to between ₦2,500 and ₦3,500, with traders citing seasonal supply shortages and rising sourcing costs. A trader at Oyingbo Market quoted in that report expected the pressure to intensify, saying tubers then selling at ₦2,500 to ₦3,000 could go for close to double by August, because the planting season had only just begun and fresh harvests were still limited. Premium Times reported in early July 2026 that yam prices in Enugu had risen steeply again, with a medium tuber of old yam selling between ₦3,000 and ₦5,000 against ₦2,000 to ₦3,500 in May, and traders there pointing to transport costs, seasonal supply and insecurity affecting farming in the north.
Against both of those, this week's 9.6% fall is a reversal rather than a continuation. The most plausible explanation is seasonal, since Nigeria's new yam harvest reaches markets from around August and early supply can move wholesale prices quickly enough to outweigh a freight increase. But no reporting so far confirms that early harvest volumes reached Lagos in the survey week, and one week is not a trend. Whether this is the seasonal turn arriving early or a single-week movement should be clearer within two surveys.
For live, continuously updated prices across all markets in this survey, visit https://foodprices.ng/real-time-prices.