Examining the Underexploited Values of Cocoyams (Colocasia and Xanthosoma Species) for Enhanced Household Food Security, Nutrition and Economy in Nigeria

Effect of processing conditions on chemical composition and consumer acceptability of cocoyam (colocasia esculentus) elubo

“…The fresh corm had the significantly (p<0.05) highest ash content, which indicates that taro in their fresh state is rich in minerals [7,14]. The effect of parboiling and steeping conditions is thus significant (p<0.05) on the ash contents of the elubo samples.…”

“…Taro (Colocasia esculenta) and Tannia (Xanthosoma sagittifolium) are the two most important genera of the family Aracea [40,14,2]. They constitute one of the six most important root and tuber crops worldwide [13].…”

“…Taro is produced in abundance in Nigeria, but less valued as it is regarded as staple food for rural dwellers, the poor and the less privileged in society [20,34]. The nutritional and chemical composition as reported by FAO [15] shows that cocoyam if fully exploited would enhance the food security of people living in the tropics [14].…”

Molecular Characterization of 36 Accessions of Two Genera of Cocoyam (Colocasia [Schott] and Xanthosoma [Schott], Araceae)

“…These crops when properly harnessed can contribute to alleviate the suffering of good number of households (Baruwa and Oke, 2012). They have been ignored in spite of their adaptability, acceptance and commercial food value and have received little attention by researchers (National Academy of Science, 1975;Ekwe et al, 2009, Mwenye, 2009; Global forum for underutilized species, 2009). All these can be implicated for the underutilized status of cocoyam.…”

Potentials of Selected Tropical Crops and Manure as Sources of Biofuels

“…The answer to this question is twofold. Firstly, the yield of cocoyam, presently about 30 tonnes per hectare (Ekwe et al, 2009) can be tremendously improved through scientific research directed at producing higher yielding varieties. With success in this area, there may not be a need to cultivate more land to increase production of the crop.…”