Nigeria presently produces about 500,000 MT of Soybean annually making it the largest producer of the product on the African continent. Soybean is a legume which is produced in most the middle belt of the country with Benue state accounting for about 45% of the total production in country.

Soybeans are an important source of high quality and inexpensive protein and oil. With an average protein content of 40% and oil content of 20%, soybean has the highest protein content of all food crops and is second only to groundnut in terms of oil content amongst food legumes.