Over the recent past, cocoyam has received inadequate attraction from researchers. Relatively few works reported on considered principally as a food crop. However, as will be seen in this subsection, some papers are beginning to point out the potentials of this crop as a source of biofuel.

8.1 Global production of cocoyam

The world has focused entirely on a comparatively small number of crops to meet the various needs for food and industrial fiber; the total number of economic crops of significance to global trade hovering just above one hundred. The consequence is that thousands of plant species with a considerably larger number of varieties fall into the category of underutilised or neglected crops. These crops are marginalized by agricultural, nutritional and industrial research (Global Forum for Underutilized Species, 2009). One of such neglected crops is cocoyam which over the years has received minimal attention from researchers and other stakeholders of interest. Cocoyam (Colocasia and Xanthosoma species), a member of the Aracea family of plants, is one of the oldest crops known. It is grown largely in the tropics, for its edible corms and leaves and as an ornamental plant. On a global scale, it ranks 14th as a vegetable crop going by annual production figures of 10 million tonnes (FAO, 2005). Its production estimates vary. However, one study points out that Africa accounts for at least 60% of world production and most of the remaining 40% is from Asia and Pacific regions (Mitra et al., 2007). Another study opines that coastal West Africa accounts for 90% of the global output of the crop with Nigeria accounting for 50% of this (Opata and Nweze, 2009). Cocoyam thrives in infertile or difficult terrains that are not well suited for large scale commercial agriculture for growing most conventional staple crops. As observed by Williams and Haq (2002), since the poor are frequently the main occupants of such areas, cultivation of neglected crops such as cocoyam constitute practical alternatives for them to augment their meagre incomes. The crop’s supposed association with the poor may be a reason while conventional agricultural research has not bothered much to take a closer look at it.