Focus on . . . Potatoes
In this edition of New Agriculturist we focus on potatoes - Irish and sweet. Although they have no botanical relationship, they share more than just physical similarities in their harvested state. Both are crops of major global significance. Irish potatoes, Solanum tuberosum, are now the fourth most important crop in the world after rice, wheat and maize. Sweet potatoes, Ipomoea batatas rank seventh in terms of global production (after barley and cassava) and fifth in developing countries where 95% of the crop is grown. The major constraint to both crops is disease - carried forward from one generation to the next in planting material, in the field, after harvest and in store which is why we make no apology for our focus on this aspect of production.
Massing weapons of destruction
Rot, blight, wilt and pestilential viruses - Irish potato growers will be sure to have experienced some if not all of these damaging disease types. One of the most feared, late blight, Phytophthora infestans, can wipe out a potato crop in a few weeks. Phthorimaea operculella, the potato tuber moth, causes...
Top of the plant for tip-top seed
When you consider how heavy Irish potatoes are, something is seriously wrong when yields are no more than a miserable 7t/ha. This is less than half the global average and a poor return for the growers in eastern Africa who ought to be getting much better production of this increasingly popular and profitable crop. The problem, as so often with potatoes...
Blight-resistant potatoes head east
Despite being the world's second largest producer of potatoes, Russia could be heading towards a crisis. Late blight, the fungus that caused the Irish potato famine of the 1840's, regularly reduces the country's potato harvest by 10%, and losses run to a staggering 4 million tons each year. Help is at hand, however, as disease-free, blight-resistant...
Potash rules for potatoes - OK?
Grown in practically every country of the world, Irish potatoes are now enjoying unprecedented and accelerating success, especially in Asia. Production in China, the world's largest producer, has increased by an average of more than 6% a year in the last decade whereas Indonesia's growth has increased even faster at more than 10% and Nepal's by nearly 9%. From 4.5 million...
Reaching the full potential of sweet potatoes in East Africa
An electronic 'sweet potato' has been helping in the investigation to discover where, when and how sweet potatoes receive the damage that destroys their market value. Inserted into the centre of a sack of real sweet potatoes, the electronic version records every bump and squeeze to which they are subjected. This is...
Ask children that are fortunate enough to have a choice if they would prefer to eat a nutritious vegetable or a quick energy-rich sweet snack, and any parent will know the answer. For a nutritionist - or a parent - trying to persuade people that they should eat what is good for them is one of the hardest parts of the job. But when what is good for them...
