The International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) has committed to training Nigerian farmers on good agronomic practices for yam production.
According to the institute, the training will be under the auspices of its Yam Improvement for Income and Food Security in West Africa (YIIFSWA) project.
Communication Specialist for the project, Ms. Oiwoja Odihi, in an interview with Journalists in Abuja stated that the training will be beneficial to farmers across eight states, as well as the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
In her words, “The establishment of the project is in an effort to multiply seed yams through seed companies in order to ensure availability for farmers”.
The issue of substandard yams, she stated will be addressed through implementation of the bio-reactor and aeroponics system technologies which will produce clean and qualitative seed yams.
“This year, we will be embarking on seed to ‘ware’ yam demonstration. Last year, we trained out-growers for seed companies on mechanisms for generating seeds from foundation seeds.
According to her, the YIIFSWA project, now in its second phase was designed to scale propagation technologies for quality seed yams.
