Africa’s Top Okra Producers in 2022: Who Grows the Most of the Continent’s Favourite Green Pod?
Okra is one of Africa’s most quietly essential crops — slippery in texture, divisive at the dinner table, yet absolutely foundational to food security across the continent. From the rain-fed fields of West Africa to the irrigated farms of the Nile Valley, the 2022 FAO production data reveals a striking picture of where this humble green pod is grown, and in what extraordinary quantities.
Nigeria: The Undisputed Giant
No country on the African continent comes close to Nigeria when it comes to okra production. In 2022, Nigeria harvested an extraordinary 1,911,818.5 tonnes — a figure that dwarfs every other producer on the continent and places Nigeria firmly among the world’s leading okra-growing nations. The country’s advantage is geographic as much as agricultural: Nigeria’s diverse agro-ecological zones, stretching from the humid Niger Delta in the south to the savannah belts of Kano and Kaduna states in the north, provide near-ideal growing conditions across multiple seasons. Okra, known locally as ila in Yoruba and kubewa in Hausa, is not merely an export commodity here — it is a dietary cornerstone, central to soups like egusi and ogbono that are eaten daily across millions of Nigerian households.
Mali and Sudan: The Overlooked Powerhouses
Mali’s 2022 okra output of 764,089 tonnes makes it Africa’s second-largest producer by a considerable margin — a fact that often surprises those unfamiliar with Sahelian agriculture. The Office du Niger irrigation zone in central Mali, one of the largest irrigated areas in sub-Saharan Africa, supports intensive vegetable cultivation including okra, which is a fixture in Malian staple dishes such as sauce gombo. The crop supports both subsistence farmers and smallholder traders supplying urban markets in Bamako and Ségou.
Sudan, in third place with 295,869 tonnes in 2022, tells a different story. Okra cultivation in Sudan is concentrated along the Nile corridor and in the Gezira Scheme — one of the world’s largest irrigation projects — where the crop thrives in hot, semi-arid conditions. Known locally as weka, okra is a staple ingredient in Sudanese cooking, particularly in the slow-cooked stews that form the backbone of everyday meals. Sudan’s output is especially notable given the country’s ongoing political and economic instability, which has placed significant pressure on its agricultural sector throughout the early 2020s.
West Africa: A Regional Breadbasket for Okra
Beyond Nigeria and Mali, West Africa dominates the continental rankings. Côte d’Ivoire produced 183,832.63 tonnes in 2022, with okra widely sold in the markets of Abidjan and Bouaké and used extensively in sauce graine and other palm-oil-based dishes. Cameroon followed with 77,631.82 tonnes, Ghana with 69,345.38 tonnes, Benin with 65,670.09 tonnes, and Niger with 29,879.31 tonnes — all reflecting the deep cultural integration of okra into West and Central African food systems.
In Ghana, okra — called nkruma in Twi — is fundamental to dishes like okra stew and light soup, consumed across all regions and income levels. Benin’s production, while smaller in volume, is significant relative to the country’s size and population, supporting both local nutrition and cross-border trade into Nigeria and Togo. Niger’s 29,879.31 tonnes is particularly remarkable given that large portions of the country are classified as hyper-arid; production is concentrated in the southwestern Tillabéri and Dosso regions where rainfall is more reliable. Burkina Faso rounds out the top ten with 23,782.33 tonnes, where okra cultivation is increasingly promoted as part of national food security strategies amid recurring drought cycles.
Egypt: Okra Beyond Sub-Saharan Africa
Egypt’s inclusion in the top ten — with 79,502.55 tonnes produced in 2022 — underscores the fact that okra’s African footprint extends well beyond the tropics. In Egypt, okra is known as bamia and has been cultivated in the Nile Delta and Upper Egypt for centuries. It features prominently in Egyptian cuisine, most famously in bamia bil lahma, a slow-cooked meat and okra stew that appears on tables from Alexandria to Aswan. Egyptian okra is also exported to Gulf countries, where demand for the vegetable among Arab diaspora communities remains strong. Cultivation is largely concentrated in Giza, Beni Suef, and Minya governorates, where the long, hot growing season and Nile-fed irrigation systems support reliable annual yields.
Why Okra Matters for African Agriculture
Okra is not a glamour crop. It receives a fraction of the research investment directed at maize, rice, or cassava, yet it feeds hundreds of millions of people across Africa every single day. It is drought-tolerant, fast-maturing — typically ready to harvest within 50 to 65 days of planting — and highly nutritious, providing meaningful quantities of vitamin C, folate, magnesium, and dietary fibre. For smallholder farmers, particularly women who dominate vegetable production in many African countries, okra offers a reliable short-cycle income crop that can be grown on marginal land with limited inputs.
The 2022 FAO data confirms that Africa’s collective okra output is substantial, with the top ten producers alone accounting for over three million tonnes. As climate pressures intensify across the Sahel and East Africa, the resilience of okra as a crop positions it as increasingly important — not just culturally, but strategically — for the continent’s food future.
