Roger and I went to farm to harvest yam on Saturday morning, September
13, 2014. In Ghana a yam is a root crop
that is different from a sweet potato.
We have sweet potatoes here as well.
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| Yam recently harvested |
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| Preparing a yam for boiling |
The yam has a white flesh – softer than a white potato.
In this area the yams are planted between April and
June. Harvest continues into December
and January depending on the weather and pigs getting into the field.
The plant is a vine – which is grown on stakes rather than
allowed the spread out. The plants are
placed on a raised bed about 2 feet high.
The beds are surrounded by flat trenches. This allows the rains to flow around, but not
wipe out the yam crop. Intercropping
seems to be common practice with yams planted in the raised bed, soybeans
around the edges, and rice in the trenches.
The occasional corn or okra plant is also among the yams – although the
bulk of those crops are in other fields.
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| Row of yam plants |
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| Close up of a yam plant - vine growing up on a stake |
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| Rice in foreground and soybeans on the edge of the raised bed |
Harvesting
A pointed stick is used to push up the loose dirt around the
plant to get to the tuber. The stick is
used to minimize the damage to the roots.
Once the tuber is extracted the soil is replaced and the plant will
produce more tubers in time, generally about 3 to 5 weeks depending on the
weather.
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| A sharpened stick used to loosen the soil. |
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| More dirt loosened |
Hands are used to remove more soil and to feel the size and
placement of the tuber. Multiple tubers
may be present. A single large tuber is
more common and preferred.
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| Hands used to remove dirt and feel for the yam. |
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| Yam tuber in the ground |
A machete/cutlass is used to carefully cut to top of the
tuber from the plant.
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| Machete/cutlass used to cut the top of the yam |
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| Yam being removed |
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| Yam harvested |
The soil is replaced and compressed lightly around the
roots. A stick is used to mark the
harvest so it will have time to grow another tuber.
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| Dirt is replaced and packed around the roots |
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| A small stick is used to mark the harvest |
You have a good thing going there. Yams are a crop I'm particularly fond of. I don't grow at such a big scale though, only have a small garden. Just harvested a decent sized one last Sunday. Keep up the good work!
ReplyDeleteYou have a good thing going there. Yams are a crop I'm particularly fond of. I don't grow at such a big scale though, only have a small garden. Just harvested a decent sized one last Sunday. Keep up the good work!
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