WONDER YAM UNITES COMMUNITY (MIRROR, PAGE 25)

From Chris Nunoo, Manden near Bole

Call it the land of the wonder yam and you would not be wrong. That is the reality at Manden, a farming community 15 kilometres from Bole in the Bole District of the Northern Region.
Now known as the 'Sedu Bile’ yam, it found its way into Manden during the lean season of 1984 when one Alhaji Sedu Bile, a native of the town, returned from Cote d’Ivoire after a visit to that country. Today both Alhaji Sedu Bile and the ‘Tembi’ yam which is also referred to as the wonder yam, are household names in the Manden community and beyond. Wonder yam, because to the people of the community the arrival of the special yam species marked the end of hunger in the town.
The yam is also said to have special qualities compared to other yams. It is good for human consumption and also industrial use.
Currently, a festival in honour of Alhaji Sedu Bile coupled with the commemoration of the arrival of the wonder yam into Manden has been instituted and it is celebrated in April every year. It has been the only festival of the people of Manden instituted over the past six years.
Derived from a species known as the ‘Tembi’ yam of Cote d’Ivoire in 1983, the yam was said to have been developed by an Ivorian agricultural scientist and was brought to that country. Alhaji Sedu Bile went to Bona in Cote d’Ivoire with a team of dancers known as Sator dancers from Manden to grace a wedding ceremony. There they learned about the yam.
Alhaji Sedu Bile had been harvesting thousands of the yam since his return from Cote d’Ivoire and was adjudged the best regional farmer at the time.
Then came the time to market the yams. With the help of other prominent farmers, Alhaji Seidu Bile started transporting his produce to Nakwebi, Tuna and surrounding villages in the Northern Region and beyond.
Consequently, ‘Sedu Bile’ spread all over the area with other regions nicknaming it their own way. Now the yam is being exported to neighbouring countries.
Speaking to The Mirror, the people of Mandari, led by Mr E.K. Yakubu, said there had never been hunger in Manden since the arrival of the yam. They said the yam had attracted a lot of the youth to go into farming. The only problem they face, though, is how to market the produce after harvesting. The people say the yam has united their communities the more as they see themselves as one people with the yam as the unifying factor.