Yam harvesting

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.

Yam recently harvested
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.
 
Row of yam plants
Close up of a yam plant - vine growing up on a stake
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.

A sharpened stick used to loosen the soil.

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.

Hands used to remove dirt and feel for the yam.

Yam tuber in the ground

A machete/cutlass is used to carefully cut to top of the tuber from the plant.

Machete/cutlass used to cut the top of the yam 

Yam being removed

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.

Dirt is replaced and packed around the roots

A small stick is used to mark the harvest


Comments

  1. Amila KanchanaJanuary 3, 2017 at 9:18 AM

    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!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Amila KanchanaJanuary 3, 2017 at 9:20 AM

    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!

    ReplyDelete

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