Title: Potential for clean seed yam production by resource-poor farmers in the middle-belt of Nigeria

Yam minisett technique (YMT) has been promoted throughout West Africa since the 1980s as a sustainable means of producing clean seed yam, but adoption of the technique is often reported as being patchy at best. While there has been much research on the factors which influence adoption of the technique there have been no attempts to assess its economic viability under 'farmer managed' as distinct from 'on station' conditions. This paper describes the results of farmer-managed trials employing the yam (Dioscorea rotundata) minisett technique (YMT) at two villages in Igalaland, Kogi State, Nigeria. One of the villages (Edeke) is on the bank of the River Niger and represents a specialist yam environment, while the other village (Ekwuloko) is inland where farmers are more generalised in terms of what crops they grow. Four farmers were selected in each of the two villages, and asked to plant a trial comprising two varieties of yam, their popular local variety as well as another variety grown in other parts of Igalaland, and to treat yam setts (80 to 100g) with either woodash or insecticide/nematicide + fungicide mix (chemical treatment). Results suggest that while chemical sett treatment increased yield and hence gross margin compared with woodash, but if household labour is costed then YMT is not economically viable. However, the specialist yam growers of Edeke were far more positive about the use of YMT as they tended to keep the yam seeds for planting rather than sell them. Thus great care needs to be taken with planning adoption surveys on the assumption that all farmers should adopt a technology.