Yam Mounds Making Machine

A machine for making yam mounds? Yes, we can!.

Yam is the king of the crops in West Africa and one of the most important energy sources for many African countries. However, the cultivation and preparation is hard work for farmers because yams are planted in mounds (30 to 50 cm high and 1 or 2 m apart). The advantage of the mound system in yam production includes loose soil conditions (for easy tuber penetration), the collection of fertile topsoil, water control, and ease of harvesting. Loose soil holds plenty of water and produces well-shaped yam tubers. Making mounds is very labor-intensive in yam cultivation and is one of the difficulties in yam production expansion and cost reduction in West Africa; others are low seed technology and pest and disease problems. Ryo Matsumoto and Haruki Ishikawa are working on mechanizing land preparation and making yam mounds using a small tiller in collaboration with Honda under the MAFF-Japan project supported by the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fishery (MAFF) Japan. The simple protocol for land preparation and making mounds with a small tiller (FJ-500 with New Yellow Ridger) was developed through collaboration activities (Fig. 1). First, plow well with a small tiller to soften the soil. Secondly, use the cross-ridging technique (vertical and horizontal cross ridging). Finally, make mounds using a hoe. It took two and a half hours from plowing to making 144 mounds with four people (less than 200 ml fuel was spent for land preparation in a 13 m × 13 m area.).　

The staff who tried this protocol said: “The most significant advantage of this process is that the soil becomes very soft. After land preparation with the small tiller, it is very easy to make mounds.”

Haruki Ishikawa, the project leader of MAFF project, said: “When Honda and I discussed yam production, I said it is very difficult (or impossible) to make yam mounds with a machine. Honda disliked the word "impossible" and saw a good opportunity to come up with a solution. The technique still needs improvement because part of the process is manual. But we started the collaboration, and as you may know that we, Japanese people, never give up on technical improvement.”

Ryo Matsumoto said, “This is an entry point for mechanized yam cultivation. I hope that this protocol can help yam farmers in Nigeria. The small tiller can help in land preparation for yam and can be applied for yam seed tuber production.”

A movies of the process from plowing to yam mound making are available at

IITA movie:
Honda movie:    • Honda FQ650 Furrow attachment  

If you are interested in a small tiller and attachment, please contact Honda Manufacturing (Nigeria) Ltd (sales.hondamanufacturingnigltd@honda-eu.com). For technical issues for land preparation for yam with the small tiller, please contact Ryo Matsumoto (r.matsumoto@agiar.org).

We will continue yam mechanization to reduce hard work and increase scale of production.

Disclaimer: Use of any equipment in this video does not mean that IITA endorses the product or brand.