Nigeria’s ginger exports fell 74% since the tuber rot epidemic devastated farmlands and destroyed output almost throughout 2024.
Ginger exports from Nigeria fell 74% to N6.28 billion in the first nine months of 2024 from N23.76 billion in the same period in 2023.
According to data on international trade from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS). Ginger exports should have had a higher naira value in 2024 due to a poorer currency exchange rate of over N1500/$, but the tuber rot disease, also called the blight illness, made sure that this did not occur.
Experts predict that the value will drop even more in 2025 as the disease epidemic has not been resolved by the research institutes tasked with monitoring tuber crops.
Ginger has emerged as one of Nigeria’s most valuable cash crops. For this reason, the federal government of Nigeria has banked on ginger as one of Nigeria’s commodities to revitalize the country’s economy and increase exports.
Ginger Growers Severely Impacted
Florence Edwards, president of the Ginger Growers, Processors and Marketers Association of Nigeria (GGPMAN), said the disease outbreak destroying farms is causing a decline in ginger exports.
“The disease outbreak is causing our output to rapidly decline, which is having an impact on exports. “There will be no ginger to export if there is no ginger to plant,” Edwards said.
According to her, the disease has been recurring because most ginger seeds in the nation have been recycled for more than 20 years. She said that this is because disease-prone seeds are replanted after harvest.
“Our ginger seeds have been the same for more than two decades. We take seeds from those same diseased plants and replant them, letting the disease to continue,” she stated. The exporter added that she had nothing to sell this export season because her farm was hit by the disease outbreak last year.
Gloria Bulus, a ginger farmer in Kaduna, and her husband invested over N1 million in ginger growing last year. However, the disease epidemic damaged the field, resulting in a significant loss. “The ginger blight disease caused my husband and I to lose over N800,000 from our farm last year,” she said. “Everything is gone from me. “I’ve tried everything, but I can’t do anything anymore,” she lamented.
Farmers, especially in Kaduna and Kano, the two main ginger-growing regions, are still counting their losses as the federal government’s attempts to contain the epidemic have failed.
Sabi Abdullahi, minister of state for agriculture and food security revealed that ginger producers have lost more than N12 billion due to the disease in less than one year.
The Nigerian government gave N1.6 billion to ginger farmers in October 2023 to help the impacted farmers and gave fungicides and insecticides to farmers in a number of important ginger-growing states.
But instead of additional pesticides and herbicides, researchers think the nation needs disease-resistant seeds that can resist fungal attacks.
Ginger Prices Skyrocketing
9am News Nigeria has learned that the price of ginger increased sixfold in just two years, from N50,000 per bag in 2023 to N300,000 in 2025.
The price increase is attributed to the low supply brought on by the devastating impacts of the ginger blight disease.
Despite a 36% increase in funding to the National Agricultural Seeds Council from N2.8 billion in 2024 to N3.8 billion in 2025, farmers continue to face barriers to accessing high-quality seeds and seedlings.
The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) estimates that as of 2023, Nigeria produced over 781,000 metric tons of ginger annually, making it one of the world’s top producers.
The country may lose its position as a leading ginger producer due to the recurrent ginger blight disease.
Ginger is mostly exported by Nigeria to markets in the Middle East and Europe.
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