Yam Farmers Task FG On Public, Private Initiative

Yam farmers and other stakeholders have called on the Federal Government to support the setting up of public-private initiative to facilitate an emerging tissue-culture-based yam seed in the country.
This was contained in a communiqué arising from a yam seed production workshop held at the University of Ibadan, Oyo State recently and made available to The Tide source.
The three-page communiqué was signed by Prof. Gbemisola Oke, Deputy Vice Chancellor (Academics), University of Ibadan.
The workshop, which was on using Temporary Immersion Bioreactors (YAM TIBs), noted that there was limited availability of yam seeds from TIBs.
The stakeholders also identified scarcity of planting materials as the major constraint to yam production in Nigeria.
“In order to allay fear or reservations towards acceptability of tissue culture produced seed yam among other farmers or the general populace, should be advocacy for acceptability of the technology through different media,” it said.
The communiqué further stated that stakeholders had observed that there was need to use TIBs to speed production of planting materials also known as clean seed yam.
According to the communiqué, yam is an important food crop in Nigeria and the country is the world’s largest producer.
“Having identified possible market glut that might result from rapid propagation technologies, the workshop opined that the National Root Crop Research Institute (NRCRI), and Nigerian Stored Products Research Institute (NSPRI) should develop and advocate for improved harvesting, post-harvest handling and storage.
The communiqué said that the workshop was also to address the issue bordering on limited availability and high cost of seed yam.