Farmers in Benin said that growing yam in sacks was cost effective and sustainable.

The farmers spoke in separate  interviews with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Friday in Benin. 

They said that the new innovation would help increase yam production and guarantee food sufficiency in the country. 

Sunday Obichukwu, the Chief Executive Officer of Fairworld farms, said he had embraced growing yam in sacks for three years. 

Mr Obichukwu said that between December 2020 till date, he had planted about 25,000 bags of yams that would be harvested later in the year and some in January 2022. 

“I have done this now for three years and I always harvest big yams.

It is more convenient because I don’t have to engage in land preparation or even weed. 

“When you introduce fertiliser into the sacks, it stays there and the yams get all the fertiliser unlike the conventional way of planting where you introduce fertiliser and it is washed away by rain. 

“For me this is the way to go, it is a new innovation which we are championing in Nigeria and so far I have done 25,000 bags of yams.

“Getting good soil is not a problem because soil in the entire South is good for yam cultivation,” he said. 

Golden Ameme, National Vice-President, National Association of Yam Farmers, Processors and Marketers, South-South, said the new method was convenient and cheaper than the conventional method. 

“There is nothing new here, we have embraced the planting of yam in sacks, the only new thing now is the organic dust they just introduced to treat beetle infestation in yam 

“We sold the new method to the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and as we speak, so many farmers are adopting it,”she said. 

She said as an association, they have been educating their members  to embrace the new technologies introduced into farming 

Edosa Omoruyi, a yam farmer, thanked the state Ministry of Agriculture for introducing the new technologies in farming yam to farmers in the state.

“The issue of beetles has been a problem but with the organic dust they just introduced, I believe it will be a thing of the past. 

“In the past we used chemicals to treat yams which we just learnt are dangerous to the soil and humans. 

Clement Obayuwana, the Secretary of Orhionmwon Farmers Association noted that he was yet to try the method.

“From the testimonies I have heard and the training we got from the ministry, I will say that the innovations are good and are cost effective,” he said. 

(NAN)