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Over the years, the traditional seed system has failed to deliver quality seed yam for propagation. This is due to the high incidence and severity of the yam mosaic virus leading to yield losses of 52.6%–65.4%. The Positive Selection (PS) technique has shown promise as a possible mitigation measure. This study was therefore aimed at evaluating the profitability of seed-yam production through the use of PS technique as a viral mitigation measure. Three hundred and sixty-eight (368) seed yam farmers across Ghana and Nigeria were sampled. Profitability was determined using Return on Investment (ROI) and Benefit Cost Ratio (BCR) analysis. Regression analysis was applied for the determinants. Result from this study indicates that seed yam production is more profitable when the effect of the yam mosaic virus is mitigated using PS technique with a net return of US$ 3,417.98/ha compared to US$ 1,795.58/ha for non-use. This implies the use of PS technique can increase seed yam profitability by 26.69%. Sex, farmer experience in yam production, education, migration status, extension contact, off-farm income and use of PS technique were significant determinants of profitability. It is therefore recommended that the PS technique be widely disseminated as a mitigation strategy for the control of the yam mosaic virus disease. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This paper aims to investigate how awareness influences the adoption of positive selection (PS) technology among smallholder yam farmers in West Africa. PS has the potential of increasing yield and reducing disease incidence and severity in yam production. Design/methodology/approach: This paper applies the average treatment effect (ATE) methodology to estimate the rates of awareness and adoption of the PS technology and associated factors using data from 678 smallholder seed yam farmers in Ghana and Nigeria. Findings: The results indicate that the actual adoption rates of PS technology are 58 and 55%, while the potential adoption rates are estimated at 89.5 and 79.3% for Ghana and Nigeria, respectively, if the PS technology was fully disseminated. This leads to adoption gaps of 31.7 and 24.8%, respectively, for Ghana and Nigeria stemming from incomplete awareness of the PS among the population of yam growing farmers. The PS adoption is high among the educated young farmers who are members of farmer based organizations and participate in demonstrations. Practical implications: Promotional efforts for enhancing awareness and adoption of PS should target educated youth willing to participate in field demonstrations and should focus on scaling up of PS technology to ensure quality farmer saved seed yams and enhance yam productivity in West Africa. Originality/value: The introduction of PS in seed yam production is quite recent also its introduction to seed yam farmers in West Africa. Subsequently, a better understanding of what the adoption status would be should everyone in the population of yam farmers are aware of PS is vital for policy, research and development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To promote the dissemination of Positive Selection (PS) technology for quality seed yam production, this study was undertaken to provide empirical evidence and to examine differences in the Total Factor Productivity resulting from the use of PS technology. Through multistage sampling, 368 CAY-Seed beneficiaries from Ghana and Nigeria were sampled. Results indicate that productivity of PS technology was 0.758 as compared to 0.700 for non-use of PS. Furthermore, the use of PS also led to a reduction in technology gap by 2.3%. The most important factors of seed yam productivity were: land, seed, labour, chemical and neem leaf powder application with sex, experience, education, cropping system and extension as the inefficiency determinants. It is therefore recommended that the PS technology should be widely disseminated with policies to reduce inefficiency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]