The story runs that in time long past circumstances there was nothing to eat, so Eze Nri (King of Nri) considered what ought to be done to cure the deformity. He took the radical course of executing his oldest child, cutting the body into little pieces and covering them. His little girl met a comparable destiny. Interesting to state, after five months, yam rings (me ji) were seen to develop at the very places where the eviscerated parts of the body had been enplaned. In a comparative design, ede (koko-yam) started to develop where the remaining parts of the little girl had been covered. Following a half year, the Eze Nri uncovered fine huge yams from his child’s grave and Ede from where he had covered his girl. He cooked both and discovered them sweet.

Right now, the lord was not able rest or rest amid the day. On one event, one of the offspring of the town tagged along looking for flame. Eze Nri gave a bit of cooked yam to the tyke who ate it, went home and expeditiously nodded off. The kid’s kin were shocked and, when he stirred, requesting that he identify with them what had happened. He answered that he didn’t recognize what it was that Eze Nri had offered him to eat. So the procedure was rehashed and it occurred as at the main case. At that point the general population requested yam and Ede. The ruler requested an awesome cost before he gave out provisions, and gave directions on the best way to plant the yam. From that time, yam and ede showed up all through the country.

The above is our legend as related in Nri. By and large, the beginning of yam is followed to wild species found in the shrubbery. Through the ages, they have been gathered, and by development enhanced, until the point that they are as we have them today. The most well-known clarification of its essence is that yam was acquainted by the Portuguese with Nigeria amid the slave exchanging days.

Yam before and amid my more youthful days was the Igbos most loved nourishment. It stands to him as potato does to the commonplace Irishman. A deficiency of yam supply is an instance of bona fide trouble. For no substitute gives a similar feeling of fulfillment. This inclination for yam and the time and work essential for its generation are a few reasons why yam is a vital Igbo sustenance. It was the most genuine occupation for the Igbos. Conditions have changed as of late and the more advanced individuals are not presently so totally subordinate upon it as their fathers did.

There are numerous assortments of yam tubers; they vary in size, appearance and flavor. A similar soil does not suit the developing of all assortments. I will save you the inconvenience of talking about the technique for planting and the colossal time and work it takes to plant yams. The code of laws that some time ago worked regarding yam planting was exceptionally stringent. Encroachment of the laws prompted genuine outcomes and not occasionally to carnage. It was a capital offense to burglarize a homestead of its yams whether they were recently set seed or the develop root. Regardless of the threat chaperon upon the deed, ranches were once in a while attacked. At the point when the activities in the field are at an end, a standard time of the devouring takes after, start with the Ịwa-ji (breaking of the new yam). Between whiles, the men are occupied with attempting the homesteads, one by one, to open upright edges in such a way, to the point that breeze and sun may have free access to them. Yams decay rapidly if left lying on the ground. The yam stacks (Ọba) remains in a confined piece of the compound and is penned off with a hefty fence and the passageway bolted.

Yams won’t flourish unless legitimately tended. Not exclusively should yams be kept free from weeds; sticks should likewise bolster them. The rings raced to a few feet long and will weaken unless they can climb. The primary yield of yams developed on higher grounds isn’t reaped until some other time in the year circuitous the finish of October and November.

Until the point that the most recent couple of years it may be genuinely avowed that the life of the general population was bound up with the yam supply. Fore ages it was the stale nourishment of the Igbos. From a farming perspective, the yam is an extremely excessive vegetable to develop. Every tuber requires a full square yard of land, which in itself is a major request. For seven or eight months of the year standard consideration must be given to its care retaining much time and work. The ranch is a family and wages don’t go into the computations nor times tally to the Igbo family. It is suspicious nonnatives can educate the Igbos much in regard of yam developing.

“ỊWA JI” is seen as an open capacity on certain designated days of the year. It is the devour of new yam; the breaking of the yam, collect is trailed by thanksgiving. An offering is offered and the general population petition God for reestablished life as they eat the new yam. An offering is made to the spirits of the field with uncommon reference to the managing god of the yam edit. In the long time past days, fouls offered as forfeit must be conveyed to the homestead and killed there, with the blood being sprinkled on the ranch. At the point when the service is finished, everything is brought home; the yams are laid up before the “Alụsị” (divinity) together with all the cultivating actualizes, while the fowls are eaten at the consequent devour. The entire group partakes in this reap and thanksgiving called “Afịa-ji Ọkụ”. The importance and criticalness of the name merits clarifying. The thought behind “Afịa-ji Ọkụ” appears to demonstrate effort, industry, to make progress toward, subsequently to exchange; “ji”, to lay hold of and “Ọkụ” wealth. Therefore, the full significance is: “Industry or exchange brings riches.” back then, yam to a great extent constituted riches.

The devour is held once per year and is seen at a consecrated spot. It is held in the 6th month in the wake of planting and in a few sections is seen on a Nkwọ day as it were. It is held when the main new yams are accessible. The seed of which were planted in the primary month of the year, with a specific end goal to be prepared in time for the function, though the fundamental products is planted in the second month.

In the function favoring is looked for of the yam soul. Kola nut is created and remaining before the “Alụsị” the solicitor bids: “Eat this kola and help the yam in the little homesteads that, if the rain be excessively, they may not suffocate , and if the rain be excessively solid, he may not make them whither.”

The conciliatory offering shifts little in various regions. The blessing may comprise of kola nut and a fowl, together with “ogilisi” and new yams, the last being bubbled. Some of the time, tough skin together with kola nut and youthful palm leaves are advertised. The applicant says, “See this fowl which I have conveyed to you!” Afịa-ji Ọkụ na ọkụkụ m’wetalụ kam’nye I.” The throat of the fowl is opening and the blood sprinkled. The corpse is given to the kids wherewith to make soup. He the solicitor goes ahead to state, “On the off chance that I plant yam as little as this, when I uncover it, might it be insofar as this, demonstrating with his hands and arms the sizes he has at the top of the priority list. He supplicates that fever may not inconvenience him or his kin and that all things may thrive in his grasp.

That night, a devour is held of which men just share, as they are in charge of the developing of the yam. Regardless, ladies don’t eat nourishment that has been offered to a soul. A month after, the general population start to uncover their yams.