Challenges posed to Yam Researchers

The obstacles facing sustainably profitable cultivation of yam, and thereby food security and prosperity, are multitudinous. Studies note farmers the following specifically:

• perceived threats or pests and diseases (e.g. termites, rodents, mealybug, nematodes, anthracnose, yam beetle, centipede, dry rot, die-back);
• growth retardation yield loss;
• increase in production cost;
• low quality and/or scarcity of tubers;
• drought;
• unavailability of insecticide/pesticides;
• poor soil nutrient availability
• loss of market value.

Challenges to research exacerbating these issues are yams’ notoriously long growth period, breeding inefficiency, polyploidy, and low multiplication ratios which severely retard the rate of research progress. See Ongoing Work for research current research targets.