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Ibadan, Oyo State — The Executive Adviser to Governor Seyi Makinde on Agribusiness and International Cooperation Development, Dr. Debo Akande, has provided a comprehensive clarification on the much-discussed “Botswana maize” subject, stating that the Oyo State Government’s pivot from maize export to cassava value chain development was a data-driven policy shift that has yielded “exceptional results,” including Oyo’s emergence as the state with the second lowest food inflation in Nigeria as of March 2026.
Dr. Akande, who also serves as Director General of the Oyo State Agribusiness Development Agency, OYSADA, made the clarification in a detailed exposition compiled by Moyosoreoluwa Olamilekan Eldreez, popularly known as Ijoba Authority MOE, addressing recurring public discourse on the administration’s pre-2019 projection to export maize to Botswana.
Speaking on the issue, which he noted Governor Makinde had previously addressed, including during a recent engagement at Harvard, Dr. Akande explained that the initial maize export plan was a “forward-looking assumption” made before the administration took office in 2019.
“Yes, before coming into office, His Excellency, Gov. Makinde, spoke about exporting maize to Botswana. It was a forward-looking assumption,” Akande stated.
He emphasized, however, that every policy of the Makinde administration is subjected to “Data, Science and Logic” before implementation. Upon assumption of office, he said, empirical data revealed that Oyo State “did not have a strong comparative advantage in maize at scale.”
“But it had something else,” he added. “Cassava as a value chain opportunity with strong demand and export potential.”
Consequently, the state government recalibrated its agribusiness strategy, shifting focus to increasing yield per hectare for cassava and building an entire value chain around the crop.
Dr. Akande recalled the administration’s 2020 COVID-19 intervention in which improved cassava stems were distributed to farmers across the state, a move that attracted public ridicule at the time.
“At that time, people laughed. The ‘igi ege’ joke is still fresh in our minds,” he said. “But systems building is not about applause. Systems are built for results. And we had clarity around what results we were looking for. We wanted higher yields and we were willing to put in the work.”
According to him, the intervention was not random but a deliberate pre-pilot to test productivity models.
The Executive Adviser disclosed that a critical discovery during the cassava value chain focus was the poor quality of fertilizers previously distributed to Oyo farmers. He referenced laboratory test results of NPK fertilizers, noting that the state became “very particular about the quality of fertilizer our farmers received by ensuring proper sourcing.”
“Yields improved significantly, with targets moving towards 10–15 tonnes per hectare with improved practices,” Akande explained.
At the Oyo State Agribusiness Transformation Center, ATC Fasola, he said, multiple cassava varieties were tested, grown, observed, and refined as part of a pilot project.
“And the result was massive,” he declared. “We produced enough cassava stems to distribute to our farmers within the State and even export to Sierra Leone and Liberia.”
Dr. Akande linked the cassava intervention and broader agribusiness reforms to Oyo State’s improved food security metrics. He noted that the state had been trending towards the lowest food inflation in Nigeria, and as of March 2026, ranked number two nationally.
“This is a scientific approach that should not be reduced to cheap political talking points,” he cautioned, referencing data on commodity volumes moving out of Oyo State from a single aggregation point within five months.
“While some were making jokes about Botswana maize and igi ege, His Excellency acknowledged that the initial assumption needed to change, we changed it and implemented changes that brought exceptional results, not only in improved yields but more value chain thinking.”
The OYSADA DG maintained that the hallmark of the Makinde administration’s agribusiness policy is adaptability based on evidence.
“What matters is simple. Did the system adapt? Did it improve outcomes? If the answer is yes… Then the system is working. And that is how real progress is built,” Dr. Akande concluded.
The clarification comes amid renewed political conversations around the 2027 elections, with the Makinde administration consistently citing agriculture as a cornerstone of its economic expansion agenda. Analysts say the Botswana maize narrative has been a recurring talking point among opposition figures, which the government now seeks to contextualize with performance data.
Dr. Debo Akande, DBA, CMGR, FCMI, is the Phenomenal Executive Adviser to Governor Seyi Makinde on Agribusiness and International Cooperation Development and has led Oyo State’s agribusiness reforms since 2019, including the development of the Fasola Agribusiness Industrial Hub.
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