Things fall apart
in igbo culture, yams were considered a symbol of
poverty
trickery
femininity
masculinity

In Igbo culture, yams were considered a symbol of masculinity.
Basically, yams were a symbol of everything in this society - they were their main food, their currency, even their symbol of masculinity. Somewhere in the text, there is a quite saying "Yam, the king of crops, was a man's crop," which supports the masculinity claim.