Yams (Dioscorea spp.) possess the potential to contribute to food security and poverty alleviation in DR Congo; however, yam production is limited by several constraints, including the lack of yam improvement programs to address challenges relating to yield improvement, resistance to foliar diseases, and post-harvest tuber quality. Identification of a superior genotype for these traits and reservoirs of genes for improvement would guide yams’ improvement. This study aims to evaluate and identify landraces with superior performance for farmers and consumers. We evaluated 191 accessions from six yam species, and significant variation in the performances was observed at p < 0.05. Accessions of D. alata were superior for tuber oxidative browning (−0.01), D. cayenensis for high yield potential (29 t/ha), D. bulbifera for yam mosaic virus (YMV) tolerance (AUDPC = 3.88), and D. rotundata for tuber dry matter content (37%). A high genotypic and phenotypic coefficient of variation (>40) was observed for tuber yield, number of tubers per plots, tuber flesh oxidative browning, and tuber flesh texture. High broad-sense heritability estimates (>60) were similarly observed for all the assessed parameters except number of tubers per plot. Tuber size was identified as the best predictor for tuber yield (b = 2.64, p < 0.001) and tuber dry matter content (b = 2.21, p < 0.001). The study identified twenty stable landrace accessions from three Dioscorea species (D. alata (7); D. cayenensis (2); D. rotundata (11)). These accessions combined high yield potential, high tuber dry matter, high tolerance to YMV and YAD, and low tuber flesh oxidation. The accessions could be considered for the establishment of a yam improvement program in DR Congo.

Yam (Dioscorea spp.) is cultivated in many villages of DR Congo as a means to sustain food security and alleviate poverty. However, the extent of the existing diversity has not been studied in details thus, considered as an orphan. A survey covering 540 farmers in 54 villages was conducted in six major yam growing territories covering three provinces in DR Congo to investigate the diversity, management and utilization of yam landraces using pre-elaborate questionnaires. Subject to synonymy, a total of 67 landraces from five different species were recorded. Farmers’ challenges limiting yam production were poor tuber qualities (69%), harvest pest attack (7%), difficulty in harvesting (6%), poor soil status (6%). The overall diversity was moderate among the recorded yam germplasm maintained at the household level (1.32) and variability exist in diversity amongst the territories and provinces. Farmers’ in territories of Tshopo and Mongala provinces maintained higher level of germplasm diversity (2.79 and 2.77) compared to the farmers in territories of Bas-Uélé (1.67). Some yam landraces had limited abundance and distribution due to loss of production interest in many villages attributable to poisons contained hence, resulting in possible extinction. Farmers’ most preferred seed source for cultivation were backyard (43%) and exchange with neighboring farmers (31%) with the objective of meeting food security and generating income. In villages where yam production is expanding, farmers are relying on landraces with good tuber qualities and high yield even though they are late maturing. This study revealed the knowledge of yam landrace diversity, constraints to production and farmers’ preferences criteria as a guide for collection and conservation of yam germplasm for yam improvement intervention.

Yam is an important tuber crop with enormous potential to enhance rural sustenance and livelihood in DRC. However, studies to enhance its genetic improvement are very far from sufficient with only a handful of information available on the crop. Yam has been treated as an orphan crop compared to contemporary crops such as cassava and sweet potato which have adapted to different cropping systems and become widespread in production. The lack of research attention to address the major production challenges has further decreased the value and potential of the crop compared to its contemporaries. These production constraints include lack of adequate quality planting materials, low yield potential, poor resistance/tolerance to yam mosaic and anthracnose diseases and ultimately poor tuber quality attributes focusing on tuber taste, flesh oxidation and dry matter contents of the majority of the farmers preferred varieties. In this review, we evaluated the status of yam in DRC and presented the needful activities to be incorporated for its improvement. Diversity has however been maintained mainly through ennoblement efforts in house gardens and small farmlands using traditional farming methods. Studies from other nations where yam has been successful with prominence in characterization and genetic improvement brought to light the need for DRC to consider yam as a staple carbohydrate food source, even to the extent of modifications in food public policy. Reversal of the yam's current stigma is a challenge to the scientific community and the population in general.

The study assessed the levels of usage of conservation agriculture technology in Kisangani, Democratic Republic of Congo and Angonia, Mozambique. A structured questionnaire was randomly administered to 192 farmers in each study site to collect data through a multistage sampling process. The study employed descriptive statistics and multinomial logistic regression to examine possible relationships among the study parameters. The results showed that land size used for conservation agriculture was a significant predictor in both study sites. Farmers’ intention to adopt depended on the services of vulgarisation of conservation agriculture technology. The results further showed that Kisangani farmers do not use the three-conservation agriculture technology at the same time, but they use crop rotation (54%). However, farmers use the three technologies (30%) simultaneously and soil cover (38%) in Angonia. The results suggest that efforts to promote adoption in Kisangani should be based on equal provision of extension services in all locations, and that the current farmer field schools (FFS) approach should be redesigned for contextualisation. For both study sites, the results imply that the use of FFS should be adapted to the use of farmer-to-farmer extension services, which can improve the upscaling of conservation agriculture to increase food security in a sustainable manner.

The use of contract farming, which constitutes a subject of current debates, especially on the issue of whether or not participating farmers improve their welfare and thus contribute to the local economy as an agricultural intervention is being adopted by many African countries including Mozambique. The Mozambique government adopted contract farming which is being implemented in the central region, mainly involving production of cash crops (Tobacco, cotton and sugarcane) using smallholder farmers. To this end, this study was carried out to assess the effect of contract tobacco farming on the welfare of smallholder farmers in the district of Angonia in Mozambique. Data were collected using questionnaire from 359 randomly selected farmers. Checklists with 27 focus group discussions, 67 key informants' interviews were also used. The results show that some farmers are able to improve their welfare as a result of their participation in contract farming. Although farmers are motivated by income generation, the contractor offers low prices which result in low returns and debts accumulation by farmers. Considering these, the study concludes that contract tobacco farming is dysfunctional, as it fails to improve the welfare of farmers. The findings of this study offer guidance on how contract farming should be organised so that both parties involved in contract can benefit and improve the chance of a win-win situation. The study further generates useful information that evaluates the subsector in terms of its contributions to the local economy.