SPYN is assisting South Pacific countries (Fiji, New Caledonia, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands and Vanuatu) to enhance the competitive position of yam (Dioscorea alata) in traditional cropping systems. Yam is a crop of considerable socio-economic importance in Melanesia and a wealth of genetic resources exists, but attempts to conserve the germplasm and use it to solve production problems have not been successful. SPYN is helping countries to collect, make selections for desired agronomic characteristics, facilitate exchange and make evaluations in diverse agro-ecological environments. The Network is supported by the European Union INCO-DC programme with a grant of Euro 600,600 (1999-2002). Several problems are limiting yam development: tuber shape is often irregular making harvest time-consuming and labour-intensive, anthracnose disease, caused by the fungus Colletotrichum gloeosporioides, is always a threat, and staking is expensive. In addition, the lack of information on starches hinders the potential utilisation of yam as a high quality vegetable. The specific objectives of the SPYN project are: To use standardised morphological descriptors on approximately 1250 accessions from all countries, in order to identify a core sample of commercial value. The important commercial characteristics are tuber shape, tuber susceptibility to oxidation when cut, tolerance to Colletotrichum, and the ability to yield well when grown unstaked; - To tissue culture and cryopreserve the elite material; - To facilitate exchange within the Network, and with countries of other regions, through the establishment of accurate virus identification and detection systems; - To understand anthracnose disease, which is the main constraint to commercial production. Farmers appear to have a poor knowledge of this disease, and are unaware of tolerant varieties; and - To evaluate the elite material on farms.