Prison inmates participating in a yam improvement project led by the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) and Diocesan Development Services (DDS) are gaining skills on how to better cultivate the tuber crop, and are being empowered to face life’s challenges after serving their jail terms. Conducted as a pilot study with the Prison Farm Centre in Elele, near Port Harcourt, Nigeria, the project aims at creating greater availability of healthy planting material, while expanding farmers’ knowledge on improved production methods. It is under the ‘Healthy Seed Yam Project’, supported by the United Kingdom’s Department for International Development (DfID). The choice of the prison is part of efforts to help reform prisoners so that they become more useful to the society, say Drs. Danny Coyne and Abiodun Claudius-Cole, IITA scientists. To get healthy seed yam, researchers trained prison inmates on how to treat yam setts of approximately 80 grams with recommended fungicides/insecticides before planting. The yam setts were dipped in the fungicide/insecticide solution and allowed to dry before planting. On the prison farm, the technology recorded more than 20% yield increase over the yield from using the conventional system. Seed Yam Project Officer, Nsude Anthony, says the innovation is ‘wonderful.’ “I am excited by the outcome. At the beginning, I never believed that such small yam setts could produce big-sized yam. This is great,” he says. Trials of the same technology on a nearby drought-hit farm recorded about 400% more seed yam using the improved method as opposed to untreated farms. Archibong Ibup, Assistant Controller of Prisons at Elele Prison Farm, described the results as ‘impressive,’ and urged farmers to step up the production of seed yam as its availability is limited and often of poor quality. According to him, the Prison Farm will adopt the methods introduced by IITA to increase seed production, adding that the project provided inmates with useful knowledge and skills that they can use when they return to their communities. He stressed that these skills would continue to be useful to inmates in their life time. Researchers say that the success of the project at the Prison Farm Centre in Elele will pave the way for similar projects across the country along the yam-growing belt. Consumed by millions of people worldwide, yam production is stymied by the unavailability of healthy seedlings caused by pests and diseases. IITA and the Diocesan Development Services—the two partner organizations implementing the project, intend to give participating inmates healthy seed yam to start yam production when they finally leave prison. It is hoped that the inmates will re-enter society armed with better knowledge and skills that would help them start a new life.