Ube also contains a special type of protein that has an anti-hypertensive property, according to a study conducted by the biotechnology team of PhilRootcrops. This discovery adds value to ube, making it a potential medicine for hypertension and other immune-related diseases like diabetes.
With the crop’s medicinal value and market potential, purple yam production should be given much attention, but the opposite is happening in the Philippines. Here, yams are usually cultivated in highly weathered tropical soils, which have low nutrient reserves, strong acidity, and high amounts of exchangeable aluminum (Al) that are toxic to many crops. Hence, the national average yield value from yam is 5 tons per hectare (ha), which is very low considering the high production cost of yam.
