,KARIMA Babangida, the Director of Federal Ministry of Agriculture claimed that Nigeria is the highest producer of cassava.

Babangida who was represented by Umar Mohamed, the Regional Director of North East, Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, made this claim at a workshop on cassava production organised by the ministry.

She said, despite the low yield of cassava in the country, which is below 10 tonnes per hectare, Nigeria still maintains its lead as the world’s largest producer of cassava. Her words:

Nigeria is still the world’s leading producer of cassava, compared to others like Thailand.

THE CLAIM

Nigeria is the largest producer of cassava in the world.

THE FINDINGS

Findings by the FactCheckHub show that the claim is TRUE.

The FactCheckHub checked the Food and Agriculture Organisation Statistics (FAOSTAT) website for the official data on cassava production across the world.

The FAO 2019 data, which is the latest, as at the time of this report, puts Nigeria on the top of the list of countries with highest cassava production with 59.19 million tonnes.

THE VERDICT

Data  from the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) on cassava production across the world supports the assertion that Nigeria is the largest producer of cassava in the world. Therefore, the claim is TRUE.