Over the years, yam cultivation has had a significant increase in its production, obtaining an important level in the food chain and it is mainly grown as family agriculture, its main use is for food and some of the species are used in the pharmaceutical industry for the manufacture of biopolymers.On the other hand, the negative effects on the environment that synthetic polymers generate due to their excessive use and that require thousands of years for their degradation at the molecular level have been demonstrated.Due to this situation and seeking to mitigate environmental problems, efforts have been made to develop materials that replace the use of plastic.There are many residual materials in agriculture that can be used as raw materials for the production of biodegradable products, including biopolymers of plant origin that come from yams, among others.In the present work, a bibliographic review is carried out with the objective of publicizing the potential of this crop, as well as collecting information that may be of interest for the development of new technologies that generate environmentally sustainable alternatives that can be adopted by the agroindustry in a promising product.