Integrating indigenous crops in agroforestry systems: Lesser yam and teak mixed systems are more profitable than monocultures in Indonesia

Societal impact statement: Major staple crops are often introduced and cultivated in monocultures. Yams are staple crops native to the majority of low- and middle-income countries and can provide an alternative to introduced staple crops. [Correction added on 9 January 2026, after first online publication: In the preceding sentence, stable has been corrected to staple in this version.] We showed that lesser yams cultivated together with teak trees (planted at the border of the farm) are more profitable than lesser yam monoculture. This supports the idea that indigenous crops, which are known to be more resilient to local conditions, are suitable to be integrated in agroforestry systems (with the benefit of having further profits from other crops and/or trees). Summary: Lesser yam, Dioscorea esculenta (Lour.) Burkill, is a staple crop massively cultivated in monoculture (yam monoculture: YM) and more rarely cultivated in agroforestry systems, where the shading effect of the trees it thought to reduce crop yield. This study aims to compare agroforestry and monoculture lesser yam systems in terms of tuber productivity, standing stock volume, harvest index (HI), efficiency of storage root production (ESRP), and financial analysis. We compared plots in YM with two agroforestry systems, trees along border (TAB) and teak–yam intercropping (TYI), in a yam production village in Central Java. Profitability analysis was done to predict the economic value of the plantations and to determine the most beneficial farming system to farmers. The YM produced the highest tuber biomass of yam, but the TAB produced the highest tuber yield (F = 38.977, P < 0.001). YM had the lowest Benefit–Cost Ratio (1.60), compared to TAB (2.01), TYI (1.84), and teak monoculture (TM, 1.90). TM was less profitable than TYI and TAB based on Net Present Value and Equivalent Annual Income. We found that lesser yam is suitable to grow under the canopy cover, and teak trees serve as living stakes for yam vines. Furthermore, upon financial analysis, TAB was the most profitable plantation type. This result suggests that the TAB can reasonably increase economic benefits, including the short-term (yam tuber) and long-term (teak timber) incomes for the farmers. © 2025 The Author(s). Plants, People, Planet published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of New Phytologist Foundation.