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
Yam has been one of the year's clearest upward movers, which makes a fall of this size notable. 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 higher sourcing costs. A trader at Oyingbo Market quoted in that report expected the pressure to continue, saying tubers then selling at ₦2,500 to ₦3,000 could go for close to double by August, because the new planting season had only just begun and fresh harvests were still limited.
Reporting from outside Lagos pointed the same way into July. Premium Times reported in early July 2026 that yam prices in Enugu markets had risen steeply, with a medium-sized tuber of old yam selling between ₦3,000 and ₦5,000 against ₦2,000 to ₦3,500 in May, and traders there attributing the increase to transport costs, seasonal supply and insecurity affecting farming in the north. One buyer in that survey hoped prices might stabilise once the peak harvest season arrived, but the report as a whole documented a sharp increase rather than relief.
The macro backdrop offers no help either. Yam is a domestic staple, so it gains nothing from the naira's appreciation this week or from the July tariff cut on imported rice, both of which lower costs only for goods bought in dollars. What it is exposed to is haulage. Yam reaching Lagos travels from the middle belt and the north, and Vanguard reported that on 22 July, inside this survey week, Dangote Refinery raised its ex-depot petrol price by 13.02% to ₦1,215 per litre while diesel surged sharply at depots across the country. That is a cost increase working in the opposite direction to this week's mean.
What This Suggests
Against that background, a 9.6% weekly fall in the Lagos mean is a reversal rather than a continuation. The most plausible explanation is seasonal. Nigeria's new yam harvest typically reaches markets from around August, and early supply can move prices quickly in the wholesale hubs that feed Lagos, which would be consistent with Mile 12 and Ile-Epo showing the widest spread in the survey. That said, no reporting so far confirms early harvest volumes have reached Lagos in the survey week, so the cause remains unestablished. With fuel costs rising at the same time, whether this is the start of the seasonal turn or a single-week movement should become clearer in the next two surveys.
For live, continuously updated prices across all markets in this survey, visit https://foodprices.ng/real-time-prices.