Staple foods of the rich world—wheat, barley, rice, maize and so on—have undergone long and sophisticated breeding programmes to increase their resistance to pests and pathogens, and to improve their yields and the convenience of harvesting them. The fruits of such research are found on the tables of the poor world as well, since these crops are ubiquitous. But poor countries often have other staples, and these have not usually been subject to such genetic ministrations.
For one such staple, things are changing. Cassava, a crop whose starchy roots feed 500m Africans, is in the process of getting a makeover which employs the best that agricultural science has to offer. And Chiedozie Egesi of the National Root Crops Research Institute in Umudike, Nigeria, who leads the NextGen Cassava project, told the meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), in Washington, DC, all about it.
From an African point of view a big problem with cassava is that it is originally a South American crop. It was introduced to Africa by the Portuguese, from their colonies in Brazil, but the strains they brought—or, at least, those...Continue reading
Source: Science and technology http://ift.tt/1mK2DoK
EmoticonEmoticon