The International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA), Ibadan Nigeria has recorded an unprecedented yam seedling breakthrough, which involves the planting of yam leaves to produce millions of healthy high yield stems.
Announcing the discovery in Abuja, Dr. Beatrice Aighewi, who is a Yam Seed System Specialist at the Institute disclosed that the project is able to guarantee production of millions of improved and healthy tubers from yam vines (stem) by helping to construct an integrated Aeroponic system needed to produce the stems.
The aeroponic system is used to produce clean yam. It’s like growing yam in the air. What we plant is yam vine popularly called ‘stem’, to produce tubers for farmers to plant.
The Institute according to Dr. Beatrice Aighewi is already engaging seed companies to adopt the new technology so that they will help in the multiplication of the seeds for farmers. As part of the effort, the system have been set up in Abuja and Ibadan with more being promised for the rest of the country.
The initiative according to Managing Director of one of the seed companies, Context Global Development, Mark Nelson will see Nigeria produce at least 600 million tubers in a five-year period.
