Yam (Dioscorea spp.) is cultivated in many villages of DR Congo as a means to sustain food security and alleviate poverty. However, the extent of the existing diversity has not been studied in details thus, considered as an orphan.

This study explored the potential of the Innovation Platform approach, in improving the participation of rural female farmers in Maize value chain. It intends to identify the peculiarities, in terms of challenges and opportunities related to its application to the rural women realities.

Based on a broad literature review, this publication discusses rural women’s time poverty in agriculture, elaborates on its possible causes and implications and provides insight into the various types of constraints that affect the adoption of solutions for reducing work burden.

A Special Product (SP) is an agricultural product “out of the WTO” in that they are not subject to tariff reductions, i. e.

Although official warfare in the Republic of Congo stopped more than eight years ago, the pool region has continued to feel the collateral effects of war until now at a scale largely ignored by the general public.