Economic impacts of yam productivity research in West Africa: A case of YIIFSWA Project

A bold step to addressing myriads of constraints affecting yam productivity was achieved through Yam for Income and Food Security in West Africa (YIIFSWA) project. The project has embarked on a series of activities culminating in the development, deployment and disseminating intervention options/technologies in Nigeria and Ghana. This paper assesses the potential economic impacts, the number of beneficiaries and poverty reduction through these agricultural technologies/intervention options. The land area coverable by the technologies ranged 320,000–650,000 ha in the two countries. The land area under varieties for adaptation to environments with low soil fertility was the highest followed by resistance to nematode cultivars. The net present value (NPV) ranged $144 million–$616 million and was highest for YIIFSWA diagnostic tool and temporary immersion bioreactor. Crop management and postharvest practices option had the lowest benefit-cost ratios of 6.0 and 20.03 while the aeroponics option had the highest benefit cost ratio of about 36.90. Not less than 750, 000 would be brought out of poverty by these technologies. The technologies are expected to reach not less than 20 million households by 2037 in Nigeria and Ghana. The technologies are more responsive to change in adoption rate than change in costs. Overall, while the potential economic gains are considerable, realization of these gains depends on the efficiency and effectiveness of extension and input supply systems. Concerted extension efforts are needed to drive the use of these intervention options. Moreover, considerable technical advice would also be needed to explain how to apply the