During surveys on anthracnose disease of cassava and yam, farmers were interviewed through questionnaire to seek their knowledge of the disease in four ecological zones in Ghana (Forest, Transition, Guinea Savannah and Coastal Savannah). Results analysed indicated that over 61% of the yam farmers and 79% of cassava farmers have good knowledge of anthracnose diseases. The farmers were aware that the disease occur on the leaves and stems of cassava and also on the leaves and vines of yam. More than 50% of the farmers said that wet seasons are the period where the disease spread most. In all the ecological zones, more than 55% of the farmers indicated that the disease has negative effect on their produce yet more than 60% of the farmers did not have any idea as to the causes of the disease and do not undertake any control method to manage the disease. The work has revealed that farmers may know about diseases due to long periods of farming, their knowledge on the causes and control of cassava and yam anthracnose disease is inadequate and therefore need more education.

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The supply of seed yams for intensive yam production is hindered by many constraints, including diseases and pest infestations as well as the unavailability of quality planting material. The combination of tissue culture and aeroponics system is perceived to be the way towards clean and adequate supply of seed yam for enhanced yam production. However, the system is considered as expensive for any individual to implement. In order to encourage private sector to participate in this venture, the economic analysis determining the feasibility and viability of using aeroponics in seed yam production was performed. Using data from established tissue culture and aeroponics system in Ghana, the fixed cost and variable cost parameters as well as production costs were obtained. Results revealed that total cost of building aeroponics structure amounted to GH₵ 94,178.00 (USD 17,938.70). Annual cost of aeroponics structure was GH₵ 9,417.82 (USD 1,793.87). Annual total cost of production totalled GH₵ 204,391.75 (USD 38,931.61). Annual net revenue was GH₵ 75,888.00 (USD 14,454.86). Payback period was 15 months and benefit cost ratio was 1.4. Aeroponics system for seed yam production is therefore profitable since short period would be needed to recoup investment. For food security and creation of workplaces, government could partner with the private sector in the establishment of aeroponics systems to increase yam production and export.

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Development of improved varieties of sweet potato to meet specific end users in the sub-Saharan African region has the potential of transforming the crop's market, consumption and health benefits. Molecular biology techniques such as fingerprinting are key to crop improvement, and critical for numerous genetic studies. This study, carried out in Ghana, seeks to determine genetic relatedness among two populations of sweet potato (released and elite), as well as to identify polymorphic and informative markers for diversity studies. Twenty expressed sequence tags-simple sequence repeat (EST-SSR) markers were used for analysis of DNA assembled. A total of 169 alleles were obtained, with an average of 8.5 alleles per locus. Pairwise genetic distance among genotypes ranged from 12-89. GenAlex v6.4 analysis showed that a higher genetic diversity existed within elite genotypes than the released lines. Results analyzed using Popgene version 1.31 software indicated that on the basis of both populations studied, EST-SSR markers utilized were very polymorphic (95%) and showed genetic diversity (I =0.888, H e = 0.548) suggesting high heterozygosity in the collected varieties. The overall F it (0.372%) and F is (0.088%) suggest high genetic diversity within populations, and gene flow (1.95) indicate an exchange of genes between released sweet potatoes and elite ones. Ewens-Watterson test was conducted to test the neutrality. From the results obtained, markers CB329940, CB330477 and CB330936 showed high allelic polymorphism among varieties used and were recommended to be included in diversity studies.