Utilisation of wild growing yams as supplementary nutrition and its impact on the dry forest ecosystem in north-western Madagascar

Abstract

Wild growing yams (Dioscorea spp.) are an important supplementary food in Madagascar, especially during periods of rice shortage in the rainy season. Yams grow in dry forests and there is a particularly high occurrence of yam tubers in recently burned, open secondary forest formations. The study found that the uncontrolled harvest of yams can contribute to the degradation of dry forests due to the high quantity of wild yams harvested by the local population and the widespread practice of intentionally burning forests to increase yams production.