Prof. Morufat Balogun, Principal Investigator of the Youth4Climate Initiative, says the project aims to produce 200,000 seed yams capable of yielding 200 tonnes under the Seed Yam Production and Entrepreneurship (SEYEP) programme.
Balogun disclosed this on Wednesday at the end of a three-day hybrid training organised for participants in Ibadan.
The Youth4Climate Initiative is domiciled in the Department of Crop Protection and Environmental Biology (CPEB), University of Ibadan (UI).
She said the initiative, supported by the AbdulKabir Ali Foundation, aims to take improved agricultural technologies from research institutions to farmers through youth adoption and enterprise development.
“Forty-two youths have so far participated in the training in two cycles, with 15 in the first cycle and 27 in the second.
“Each participant is expected to establish seed-yam production on at least 20 square metres, capable of producing about 2,000 seed units.
“If we multiply 2,000 by 40, that gives us 200,000 seed units,” the principal investigator said.
Balogun said the seed units, if successfully multiplied and planted as food yam at an estimated yield of one kilogramme per unit, could translate to about 200 tonnes.
She noted that participants had shown enthusiasm throughout the training by asking questions, offering feedback and proposing ways of applying digital technology to agriculture.
One of the participants, Ms Chidinma Okorie, said the training exposed her to breeder, foundation and certified seed classes and the processes involved in producing them.
Okorie, a master’s graduate of the Department of Crop Protection and Environmental Biology, said she planned to transfer the knowledge to yam farmers in her Igbo community.
“The training has also introduced me to vegetative propagation through leaves, vines and mini-tubers as alternatives to conventional propagation with cut yam sets,” she said.
Also speaking, a lecturer and facilitator, Dr Olufisayo Kolade, urged youths to explore seed-yam production as an agricultural enterprise requiring relatively little initial investment.
Kolade said: “The technology could enable a single leaf to produce between 1,000 and 10,000 mini-tubers, thereby increasing the multiplication rate of planting materials.
“The propagation technology being promoted is not genetically modified, but a natural method of multiplying yam planting materials.”
He urged the trainees to share the knowledge acquired and encourage wider adoption of improved seed-yam production methods.
