Crop Diversification with Tropical Tuber crops for Food and Livelihood Security

Abstract

Tropical tuber crops like cassava, greater yam, lesser yam, elephant foot yam, taro, tannia and arrowroot are mostly grown in association with plantation/fruit/tree crops like coconut, arecanut, coffee, rubber, banana, mango, sapota, litchi etc. Intercropping tuber crops both at the immature and mature phases of these perennial crops is a common practice, especially in small and medium sized land holdings. This will help to augment the net income and employment opportunities, serve as insurance crop against risk and natural calamities, enhance the resource use efficiency and ensure food security. In such farms, the produce from the perennials generate the cash income, while the starchy root and tubers partially meet the food requirements of the farm family and the feed needs of farm animals. Cropping systems involving cereals, vegetables, pulses and oilseeds in tuber crops also enable higher employment and income generation. Extensive research in India has proved beyond doubt the agronomic and economic advantages of the cropping systems involving tropical root and tubers. The scope of such crop associations, growth performance, production potential of tuber crops in such systems, management practices for realizing higher tuber yield and economic feasibility of the systems are evaluated in this paper.