Report

REGIONAL CONGRESS ON ROOTS AND TUBER CROPS FOR FOOD SECURITY AND CLIMATE CHANGE RESILIANCE IN ASIA AT MANILA, PHILLIPINES 

As invited by the Organizers, the Congress was attended by Mr.R.K.Nithanga, SPD, FOCUS, Mizoram during 17&18th October, 2019. 

VENUE OF THE PROGRAMME:   Luxent Hotel, Quezon City, Manila, Phillipines.

DURATION :                                       17&18^th October, 2019-10-24

Organisers:                                         CIP, DOST-PLAARRD, 

Funding:                                              IFAD,EC, FoodSTART+

PARTICIPANTING COUNTRIES:   Indonesia, Vietnam, Tonga, Kenya, India, Italy, Colombia , Lao, Korea & Philippines

Total No. Of Participants:              106

Notes from the Congress:

ü  Root & Tuber crops  such as potato, sweet potato and cassava are essential to food security in the world’s poorest regions.

ü  Rich in micronutrients and vitamins (malnutrition: hidden hunger).

ü  because of their ability to grow even in marginal lands (especially cassava, yam and sweet potato) where other types of crops would not be competitive, they are also considered as subsistence or “famine reserve” crops.

ü  Much of growth concentrated on potato and sweet potato production in China.

ü  Cassava production is concentrated in South East Asia and particularly prevalent in Thailand and Indonesia where it is grown for food, feedstock for starch and ethanol manufacture, and feed. Thailand and Vietnam major agricultural exporters of cassava products.

ü  Some RTCs tolerate stresses such as drought and heat and should be relatively robust in the face of climate change.

ü  A key dynamic as a result of climate change will be crop substitution, especially where RTC crops replace more sensitive cereals and legumes.

ü  Maize will be particularly vulnerable to higher frequency of periodic drought, whereas production of cassava and sweet potato can be much more reliable.

ü  Potato breeding program in Vietnam, China and India. Sweetpotato breeding program in India, Bangladesh and the Philippines

ü  Kufri-Lima: released in India (2018). Heat tolerant with high dry matter

ü  CIP clone 397006.18 (drought tolerant) recommended for Potato Variety Release for Hot Arid and Semi-Arid Regions of India