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Banana
Bananas (Musa spp.), including dessert banana, plantain, and cooking banana, are the fourth most important food crop in the least developed countries ranked by total production and food consumption. Bananas (Musa spp.), including dessert and cooking bananas, are the fourth most important food crop in the least developed countries ranked by total production and food [...]
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Cassava
Cassava (Manihot esculenta) is the second most important food crop in the least-developed countries (LDCs), and the fourth most important in developing countries, with total production (218 MT), of which over half is in Africa and another third in Asia. It is mostly grown by smallholders. Commonly considered to provide only carbohydrates, cassava also contains [...]
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Potato
Potato (Solanum tuberosum) is the world’s fifth most important food crop in the LDC ranked by total production (159 MT) and the third most important ranked by food consumption (118 MT). Potato is grown in diverse environments in Asia, Africa, and LAC. Originating in the Americas, wild potatoes are a tremendous resource for breeding, with [...]
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Sweetpotato
Sweetpotato (Ipomea batatas) is the eighth most important food crop in the developing countries. Total production (110 MT) has historically been centered in Asia with Africa taking an increasing share. Like the potato, sweetpotato is a major energy crop, and some of its genotypes (OFSP) have very high levels of pro-vitamin A, which provides a means [...]
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Yam
Yams (Dioscorea spp.) are a multispecies crop with a wide range of ploidies and rank eleventh among global food crops in both total production (49 MT) and food consumption in developing countries. Production is concentrated in tropical Africa (96%), mostly by smallholders. Guinea yams, D. rotundata (white yam) and D. cayenensis (yellow yam), originated in Africa [...]
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Other Roots & Tubers
The minor root and tuber crops are a rich but neglected resource for food, nutrition, and income. The Andean root and tuber crops (ARTC) (achira, ahipa, arracacha, maca, mashua, mauka, oca, ulluco, yacón) play a major role in Andean potato-based farming systems, where they are of great economic and nutritional importance to subsistence farmers. They [...]
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Roots, Tubers and Bananas – Working on “Flagship Products” towards Intermediate Development Outcomes
May 16, 2013 admin
Sophie Alvarez, a consultant at CIAT, had the opportunity to facilitate a meeting of representatives of the four RTB participating Centers (Bioversity, CIAT, CIP, IITA) and other partners of RTB in CIAT Headquarters last March. The Research Program has been in the intensive process of establishing the foundations for results based management, thus dealing with impact pathways. [...]
Scientists Alarmed by the Rapid Spread of Brown Streak Disease in Cassava, a Crop that Sustains 300 million Africans
May 6, 2013 admin
World’s cassava experts to wage war against cassava viruses; Introduction into Nigeria, the largest cassava producer in the world, could result in drastic food shortages in this part of Africa BELLAGIO, ITALY (6 MAY 2013)— Cassava experts are reporting new outbreaks and the increased spread of Cassava Brown Streak Disease or CBSD, warning that the [...]
Priority assessment for Roots, Tubers and Bananas: Add your voice in your own language
Apr 11, 2013 admin
Get involved by filling out the crop survey that best matches your expertise RTB, the CGIAR Research Program on Roots, Tubers and Bananas, is conducting a Strategic Assessment of Research Priorities to identify which research options are expected to yield the highest impacts on welfare, poverty, food security, human nutrition and health, gender equity and environmental sustainability. [...]
Banana Survey Results to be used to Select Research Options at Expert Uganda Workshop
Apr 5, 2013 admin
Browse through the results and join the online discussion. The results of a survey of banana experts, conducted at the beginning of the year as part of the RTB priority setting exercise, have recently been released and are now available online. The survey attracted responses from over 500 different research scientists located in over 50 countries, [...]
RTB team and partners discuss postharvest activities
Mar 27, 2013 admin
Partners’ inputs help kick-start the RTB work agenda on postharvest activities. Peeling plantains for the agroindustry, processing cassava with efficient equipment, accessing markets and offering varieties that consumers like: these are just a few of what can be classified as ‘postharvest activities’. All these aspects are what drew together the 50+ participants to the long-awaited [...]
CIRAD and its French partners take up their position in the CGIAR Roots, Tubers and Bananas Research Programme (RTB CRP)
Feb 21, 2013 admin
CIRAD and its French partners are taking part in the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) Roots, Tubers and Bananas Research Programme (RTB CRP). They recently confirmed to programme coordinators their position in terms of innovative techniques and research. Publisher: CIRAD Publishing date: 2012-04-04 00:00:00 Read article
Global program on Roots, Tubers, and Bananas to exploit untapped potential and new synergies
Feb 20, 2013 admin
Two-hundred million poor farmers in developing countries grow roots, tubers, and bananas (RTBs) for food security and income. But they do not fully benefit from the potential of these nutritious, resilient, and versatile crops. They are constrained by challenges such as low yielding varieties, poor quality seed, stresses from climate change, and poor management. The [...]
Savants Meet on Plan to Raise Food Production
Feb 16, 2013 admin
Filipino researchers are plunging headlong into a program to improve the production of roots, tubers and bananas and thus mitigate the threat of global famine. Publisher: Manila Bulletin Publishing Corporation Publishing date: 2010-10-06 00:00:00 Read article