Rediscovering Yams for Food Security and Poverty Alleviation in Eastern Uganda

            Upon arrival in Bulambumli disctrict, I met my key informant and on Sunday we organized to go to the community church to introduce me and my project to the community at large. The church is an important stakeholder in the community of Namisuni and Kamu subcounties. The church has so many followers, so it serves as a gathering place where messages can easily be passed to a large majority of any given community. The church leadership agreed that the sensitization on cocoyams is timely, as the issue of food insecurity heightens with each passing year: currently, many households have only one meal in a day. They pledged their full support toward the project. This was an important starting point from which the participatory work begins

After gaining community support, I visited farmers to learn about the yam crops. I was interested to know why the yams are on the decline. Farmers shared that the government-run National Agriculture Advisory Services is pushing for commercialization of coffee. Usually yams are intercropped with coffee and bananas. But as a result of this push, which comes with a high degree of pesticide use (majorly, Roundup), the chemicals are killing the yams. People also deliberately spray them, because they believe them to be of low economic value. This is misinformation, as in other parts of the world – such as Fiji, Papua Guinea, Nigeria, and the Hawaiian islands - yams are increasingly profitable. Because the government has not put forth an effort to promote or sustain yam production, farmers see little to no value in maintaining them.

            While households struggle to achieve an adequate diet, their sole focus on cash crops at the expense of food security continues to exacerbate the problem. The yam is a crop that easily accomplishes a high nutritional profile while growing well with cash crops, but again the use of pesticides makes traditional intercropping impossible.

            As I return to the field I will be looking with farmers at economic and nutritional value of yams. While yams have traditionally grow wild without needing cultivation, the emergence of commercialization necessitates a new paradigm in yam production. I will be discussing and exploring with farmers techniques for the planting, harvesting, and post-harvest handling. I look forward to developing a demonstration of this process, as well as helping farmers to achieve an increased level of food security and poverty reduction in their homes and for the community at large through a return to cocoyams that needs neither capital input nor new planting material.

Uncultivated yam with low yield

A mature cocoyam plant