The Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (FMARD), is in partnership with the International Institute for Tropical Agriculture (IITA), and Yam Improvement for Income and Food Security in West Africa (YIIFSWA) to train fifty (50) farmers on the abundance of modern yam seed and storage technology.
The training which took place in Benin City, the Edo state capital, had farmers drawn from three (3) senatorial region of the state for the seminar on how to increase yam seeds with the growing of plants in a mist-laden atmosphere, without the use of soil, a process known as  Aeroponics.
Speaking with the farmers at the programme, the head of root and tubers division of FMARD, Abuja, Perpetua Iyere-Usiahon said the training was organized to make farmers see new technologies in the production of yam seed and build a better knowledge of the existing methods.
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According to Iyere-Usiahon, YIIFSWA, a five-year project worth $12 million, is to establish and build a working commercial yam seed system in Nigeria and Ghana to the advantage of smallholder farmers through affordable and prompt access to high-quality yam seed tubers and better changes.
The advocacy consultant of YIIFSWA, Professor Malachy Akoroda, said the creation of Aeroponics plant would develop quality yam seed supply in Edo state, and other regions in the country, such as South-South and part of South-East, South-West, and the North-Central.
Professor Akoroda said the technology will definitely boost the income of farmers and at the same time increase food security.
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The Edo State director of FMARD, Wellington Omoragbon, while making his remark said that the training will provide farmers in the state opportunities to prospect the yam value chain and generate wealth from yam farming business.
Omoragbon acknowledged that the programme was in order with the President Buhari’s policy on the agricultural administration.
It can be recalled that FMARD early this year, went into partnership with Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) on promoting an extension service for livelihood improvement of smallholder agricultural farmers in Nigeria.
