Increase food security with root crops

One of the main food crops in Uganda is bananas. However, it has become increasingly harder to produce bananas mainly due to long droughts in many banana producing regions, pests, and heavy rainstorms that felled entire banana plantations particularly in western Uganda, according to Dr Priver Namanya, who heads the National Banana Research Program in National Agricultural Research Organisation (Naro). 

A bunch of bananas today costs above Shs30,000 in most food markets. The high prices would translate into higher profits for farmers if production conditions were favourable. However, the reality is that banana prices are so high because of the scarcity of the crop. The farmers are not earning a lot of money because production is low.

 The rains finally came in the recent few months and hybrid bananas, resistant to such diseases as black sigatoka or leaf spot fungal disease, and to pests like nematodes and weevils, among others, have been given out to farmers to plant (Naroban1, Naroban2) as Dr Namanya has revealed but the persistent scarcity of the crop continues to make it less affordable to most consumers.

Banana production has been further hampered by the incurable Banana Bacterial Wilt Disease which can be avoided by only excellent farmers that always sustain high standards of crop production hygiene. Food security dictates that farmers grow alternative crops like millet, sorghum, maize, rice, peas, and beans.

 It also means diversification by growing root crops such as sweet potato, cassava, yams, and Irish potatoes. Root crops generally don’t require much land to produce the amount of food needed by an average family. Once planted and ready for harvesting, they can lie safely in the ground for several months to be taken out as and when there is need for them. This is the reason they are often described as famine crops. Part of their storage time may be spent underground in the field where they are grown.

Root crops tend to require less labour and attention. For example, yams, sweet potatoes, and cassava may not require as much weeding and care as beans, groundnuts, or peas or even bananas.

Most root crops grow in a variety of soils and give good yields without much need for fertiliser. They are propagated clonally or by vegetative means, which suggests the farmer should not worry about where to find planting materials.

Mr Michael Ssali is a veteran journalist,

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