The Business Incubation Platform of IITA has set a new record of 23tons/ha for yam production in Nigeria. This record which was achieved through a control trial has been set to guide farmers in achieving increased yields from their yam farms. Yam also known as Dioscorea specie, is an annual root tuber-bearing plants with more than 600 species. Some of these species are water yam (Dioscorea alata), white yam (Dioscorea rotundata), yellow yam (Dioscorea cayanensis), lesser yam (Dioscorea esculant) and three-leaf yams (Dioscorea dumetrum). Nigeria is the largest producer of yams in the world, followed by Ghana, Côte D’Ivoire, Benin, Togo, and Cameroon.
Traditional yam producing areas have been experiencing decline in yam production due to declining soil fertility, poor yam plantlets, increasing pest pressures and the high cost of labour. The Business Incubation Platform of International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) decided to work on a control trial with the aim of realising higher yam yield and assist farmers in achieving same in their farms.
The trial was handled by Paul Ajayi, Agronomist at IITA GoSeed, a unit that is focused in producing early generation seeds in Nigeria, and supported by Ryo Matsumoto, IITA Yam Agronomist. The planting was done April 2019 and harvested November 2019, an average of 8 months.
In an interview with Victor Saleh, Communication Executive at the IITA BIP, Ajayi mentioned that they were able to harvest 23 tons per hectare, which is far beyond the average production of 13.1 tons/ha in Nigeria. Sequel to this trial, the Agronomy Unit of IITA has earlier achieved up to 26 tons/ha which showed that better yield is achievable for commercial purposes. Ajayi Paul stated further that it’s possible for farmers to harvest 18-20 tons per hectare on the average, if good agronomic practices are followed.
During the interview, Matsumoto and Ajayi mentioned that farmers have low yield because they lack right and adequate information about yam production. Issues of availability and accessibility to quality and improved seed yam as planting material; and lack of adequate knowledge on the good agronomic practices involved in yam production have been a barrier to better production for farmers.
The agronomists also highlighted key pre-planting, planting and post-planting measures that can help farmers achieve this great yield. They include proper land preparation, treatment of planting material, mulching, staking, timely and adequate fertilizer application, proper weed management and other daily operational routines to ensure that the best is achieved.
They further advised that all yam farmers who intend to have a bumper harvest at every production season, should go for training on yam production, to acquire the right knowledge and skills in yam farming; get quality plantlets and adopt good agronomic practices for maximum yield.
The BIP team is open to collaboration on project that involves commercial yam production. Quality yam plantlets for seed production can be gotten from IITA-BIP-GoSeed.
The IITA Business Incubation platform partner processors and others to help build outgrowers scheme that guarantees consistent availability of raw materials needed for their production. For partnership in seed or tuber production, Individuals and companies can reach out to us.