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Nature-based solutions

Combating the unseen enemy of yam

Nature Food volume 4, page 141 (2023)Cite this article

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Plant parasitic nematodes (PPNs) are responsible for substantial yield and post-harvest losses in yam production among smallholders in Africa. A seed wrap technology provides a low-cost, nature-based solution.

Food security in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) largely depends on subsistence farming, but previous studies1 have casted doubt on this system’s ability to keep up with the twofold population increase projected for the region by 2050 (ref. 2). Among several biotic and abiotic factors hampering SSA’s agricultural production are pests and diseases; in West Africa, where yams (Dioscorea alata and other Dioscorea spp.) are a particularly valuable source of nutrients to millions of households3, PPNs cause production losses of up to 80% in the field and storage4,5 — begging the question ‘what can farmers do to combat PPNs in an environmentally safe and sustainable way?’

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  1. International Centre of Insect Physiology and Ecology (icipe), Nairobi, Kenya

    Fathiya Mbarak Khamis

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  1. Fathiya Mbarak Khamis
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Correspondence to Fathiya Mbarak Khamis.

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Khamis, F.M. Combating the unseen enemy of yam. Nat Food 4, 141 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s43016-023-00709-w

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