The institute’s Project Manager, Yam Improvement for Income and Food Security in West Africa, Dr. Nobert Maroya, disclosed this in Ibadan during a meeting of the IITA’s scientists with top seed production companies from different parts of the country.
According to him, the project had developed high ratio propagation technologies such as vine cuttings, aeroponics and bioreactor to address the constraints of quality and multiplication in seed yam production.
Maroya told participants that for Nigeria to profit from the huge financial gain in yam exports, it must develop efficient seed production, distribution and quality assurance systems.
These, he stressed, were the steps taken by Japan and Ghana that placed them ahead of Nigeria among the yam exporting nations.
According to him, yam producers in Nigeria can take a cue from the well organised nature of the Ghanian market.
Maroya, however, said that the objective of the IITA was to help increase the quality of the produce, adding that there must be quality control in each stage of yam production.
The YIIFSWA coordinator said that yam production and foreign earnings from exportation would improve rapidly if the newly developed system was embraced by farmers.
Nigeria is one of the largest producers of yam in the world, accounting for over 70–76% of the world production, about 35.017 million metric tonnes with value equivalent of US$5.654 billion.
