Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
Table 18.1
Underutilized Tropical Root Crops.
Latin name
Common names
Distribution
Alocasia macrorhiza
Yantua-it, giant taro, elephant ear, ape flower
SE Asia, Australia, Pacific
Amorphophallus campanulatus
Elephant foot yam, dziwadlo, pungapung,
telingo potato, suran
Madagascar to Asia, Polynesia,
N Australia
Arracacia xanthorrhiza
Apio, arracach
Northern South America
Canna eduli
Achira, edible canna
Peru
Colocasia esculenta
Taro, coco yam, kalo, taro de chine, chinese
potato, malanga
Cyrtosperma chamissonis
Giant swamp taro SE Asia, W Melanesia
Maranta arundinacea
Arrowroot, obedience plant Florida, W Indes, Australia,
SE Asia, S and E Africa
Oxalis tuberose
Oca, 0oa Andes, New Zealand
Pachyrhizus erosus
Jicama Mexico, Central America
Plectranthus esculentus
Livingstone potato, kaffir potato Africa
Smallanthus sonchifolius
Ycon, Mexico potato, potato bean, yacurna Andes
Tropaelum tuberosum
Mashua, anu mashwa Andes
Ullucus tuberosus
Ulluco Andes
Xanthosoma sagittifolium
Badoo, Chinese taro, macabo, cocoyam W Indes
Source: Information collated from http://www.underutilized-species.org/species/roots_tubers.asp.
Table 18.2
Production of Major Root Crops (Million Tonnes per Annum) in Selected Regions
and Countries.
Region
Potato
Cassava
Sweet potato
Ya m
Total roots and tubers
Total World
321
203
129
40 (68%)
712
Sub-Saharan Africa
7
110 (54%)
11
38 (97%)
179
South America
14
36
1
0.6
52
Asia
132
58
114
0.2
306
North and Central America
27
1.6
1.5
0.6
31
Europe
131
131
Australia
1.3
1.3
China
73
4
107 (83%)
186
Brazil
3
27
0.5
30
DR Congo
15
16
Nigeria
0.7
38
2.5
27
72
Note: Figures in parentheses indicate percentage of world production.
Source: 2005 estimates from FAOSTAT (2006).
to developed countries. Most international trade in cassava
is as dried chips and pellets for animal feed, with Europe as
the main importer and Asian countries, especially Thailand
as the main exporters. The size of this trade depends
critically on the grain prices (IFAD FAO 2000).
Approximately 15% of the overall cassava trade is as flour
and starch, in which case the main importers are Japan,
Taiwan and China (IFAD FAO 2000). Sweet potato is a
popular commodity in the United States, and is growing in
popularity in Europe. As for cassava, trade in yams from
Africa to Europe is increasing with the size of the African
immigrant population.
