Why the “King of Crops” Still Speaks to the Values of a Changing People
By Chuka Nnabuife
CELEBRATING THE “KING OF CROPS”
The Anambra Broadcasting Service (ABS) marked its annual New Yam Festival on Wednesday, 28 October 2026, at the open grounds of its headquarters at ARROMA area, Awka. It was a memorable celebration of colour, dance and the enduring richness of Igbo heritage.
The occasion was enlivened by the participation of the Amanuke community in Awka North Local Government Area, which partnered with the broadcasting organisation to present a vibrant cultural fiesta featuring masquerades, traditional performances, farm produce and indigenous cuisine.
It was a carnival of sorts. Beyond the masquerades and dances in which an ijele, king of masquerades performed, Amanuke people displayed freshly harvested crops from their farms: robust tubers of yam, cocoyam and cassava, alongside impressive bunches of plantain and banana. They offered tangible evidence of a productive harvest season.
Guests were treated to an assortment of traditional dishes. The people of Amanuke and their chiefs led by their traditional ruler, HRM Igwe A.C. Ezebuilo (Ogbodudu II' n'Amanuke) and eight other traditional rulers from various communities across Anambra State, as well as prominent government officials, including four commissioners comprising the state's Commissioner for Information and Value Reformation, Dr. Law Mefor, the permanent secretary of the Information ministry, Dr. Oby Uchebo, dignitaries and captains of industry, gave the event its cultural and social steep.
The people and the ABS family, led by their Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Chris Molokwu were equally in high spirits.
Traditional wrestling provided one of the most thrilling spectacles. Strong and skilful young men, displaying the physical vigour of youth, stirred the audience with reminders of the beauty, strength and vitality embedded in traditional Igbo life.
The essential rituals of Iri Ji Ọhụrụ were also observed: the king's breaking of kola nut, the cutting and eating of the first roasted yam, and the traditional elite uhio dance performed by the king and titled elders, among others.
What ABS and Amanuke presented was, therefore, more than a festival. It was a vivid encounter with a heritage that has not disappeared but whose deeper meaning is gradually being obscured as many communities celebrate the New Yam Festival without fully letting the young generations appreciate the cultural philosophy behind it.
IRI JI ỌHỤRỤ: MORE THAN A FEAST
In Igbo culture, Iri Ji Ọhụrụ is never merely a celebration of food or an occasion for a community to gather and enjoy a spectacle.
It is all of that — and much more.
For Ndigbo, the New Yam Festival is a celebration of life, labour, land, identity and communal continuity. It occupies an important place in the traditional calendar because it provides a moment to pause, reflect and acknowledge one of the oldest relationships in Igbo civilisation: the relationship between humanity, the earth and the harvest. At the centre of that relationship is ji — yam. And yam is much more than a plant or a food crop.
JI: THE “KING OF CROPS”
In the Igbo indigenous worldview, yam has traditionally been regarded as the “king of crops” — a symbol of prosperity, dignity, strength, achievement and responsible manhood.
Its cultivation required patience, discipline, skill and physical exertion. Its harvest represented the reward for labour. Its storage in a yam barn demonstrated economic capacity, foresight and preparedness for the future.
Hence the enduring expression:
“Ji bụ isi.”
Yam is fundamental.
The cultural elevation of yam is also reflected in the names and titles associated with it.
Di Ji — the owner, master or lord of yam — evokes the accomplished cultivator.
Eze Ji — king of yam — elevates both the crop and its master to a position of distinction.
Names and titles such as Jibiaku, Osiji and Jibuno similarly demonstrate the depth to which ji has entered Igbo language, identity, praise names and social imagination.
These are not merely decorative expressions. They are cultural evidence of a civilisation in which agriculture was closely connected with dignity, achievement, social standing and responsibility.
JI AND ANI: THE SACRED RELATIONSHIP
Beneath the physical cultivation of yam lies a deeper relationship with Ani.
In the Igbo cosmological imagination, Ani or Ala is not simply soil or physical earth. Ani is understood as a powerful spiritual reality associated with the Earth, fertility, morality, social harmony and communal wellbeing.
The relationship between the farmer and Ani is therefore reciprocal.
Ani gives the land.
The farmer gives labour.
The land produces the harvest.
The harvest sustains the community.
This relationship helps explain the special treatment traditionally accorded to the first yam harvest.
Before the new crop becomes ordinary food, it is ceremonially acknowledged and celebrated.
Iri Ji Ọhụrụ expresses gratitude to Chukwuokike, God the Creator; reverence for the earth; appreciation of human labour; and reaffirmation of communal bonds.
The festival is, therefore, not simply about eating the first yam of the season. It is about recognising the forces — divine, natural, human and communal — that make the harvest possible. And that symbolism remains profoundly relevant today.
WHAT YAM TEACHES CONTEMPORARY NDIGBO
Ndigbo have moved far beyond the traditional agrarian economy.
Today, Igbo people are prominent in commerce, manufacturing, technology, medicine, academia, the creative industries and the global economy.
But progress should not mean cultural amnesia.
We should not lose sight of the values that helped make Igbo communities resilient: dignity of labour, enterprise, self-reliance, family responsibility, respect for the land, hospitality and communal solidarity.
Indeed, yam offers contemporary Igbo society an indigenous philosophy of development.
It teaches that prosperity should be cultivated, not merely desired; earned, not merely claimed; and shared, not selfishly hoarded.
That message is particularly important at a time when society faces unemployment, environmental degradation, declining interest in agriculture, youth restiveness and the temptation to pursue wealth without corresponding work, discipline or social responsibility.
The ancient symbolism of yam provides a powerful corrective.
There is dignity in productive labour.
There is honour in creating value.
There is responsibility in prosperity.
FROM CULTURAL FESTIVAL TO CULTURAL CONVERSATION
The New Yam Festival at the Anambra State Broadcasting Service should therefore be seen as more than a cultural ceremony.
It is an opportunity to use culture to speak to the present.
ABS, as a major platform of public communication, has the capacity to help transform the festival from a celebration of the harvest into a conversation about the values behind the harvest.
The question should not only be: What have we harvested?
It should also be:
What have we learnt from the harvest?
What does yam tell our young people about work?
What does Ani teach us about the environment?
What does the communal nature of the festival teach us about responsibility to one another?
What does the yam barn say about saving, planning and preparing for tomorrow?
And what does the celebration of abundance say about sharing prosperity rather than using it merely as a measure of personal status?
These are questions that can make culture a living instrument of development.
THE MESSAGE OF JI
The message is simple, but profound:
Ani is a trust.
Labour is a duty.
Harvest is a blessing.
Prosperity carries responsibility.
And the wellbeing of the individual is inseparable from the wellbeing of the community.
Yam remains king in the Igbo worldview, not merely because it feeds us, but because of what it teaches us.
It teaches us to respect the land.
To honour labour.
To value achievement.
To prepare for tomorrow.
To celebrate abundance with gratitude.
And to understand that prosperity acquires its fullest meaning when it contributes to the wellbeing of others.
THE SOUL OF NDIGBO
When the land is respected, labour is honoured, the harvest is valued and prosperity is responsibly shared, society flourishes.
That is the enduring wisdom of ji.
And that is why, in celebrating yam, Ndigbo are ultimately celebrating themselves — their history, their resilience, their values and their hope for the future.
The yam festival is therefore not merely a remembrance of what our ancestors ate.
It is a reminder of who we are, what we value and what kind of society we should build.
So, as we raise the yam today, let us also raise the values it represents.
Let us celebrate not only the harvest, but the labour behind it. Not only the wealth, but the responsibility it carries. Not only the land, but our duty to preserve it. And not only our past, but the future we are planting today.
That is the deeper meaning of Iri Ji Ọhụrụ.
That is the enduring power of ji.
And that is why the “King of Crops” still matters.
• Chuka Nnabuife, FNGE, FSNA,
Awka. NNL.
