Sweetpotato in West Africa

Abstract

West Africa (17° 15 min E, 17° 15 min W and 26° 52 min N, 15° 35 min S) with 16 countries forms the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) excluding Mauritania. Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger are land-locked. The region, north of Gulf of Guinea, had a long history of slave trade, Portuguese presence, colonial exploitation of human and natural resources by European nations during 1460-1960. Her southern forests, forest-savanna transition, northern savannas agro-ecologies suit many crops using traditional techniques.