Scientists Say Cassava Will Thrive in Climate Change, Best Bet for African Farmers
(The Washington Post/AP) Calling cassava “the Rambo of food crops,” scientists Monday said the long-neglected root becomes even more productive in hotter temperatures and could be the best bet for African farmers threatened by climate change.
…The root outperformed potatoes, maize, beans, bananas, millet and sorghum in tests using a combination of 24 climate prediction and crop suitability models, said scientists from the Colombia-based International Center for Tropical Agriculture and the center’s Climate Change Agriculture and Food Security Research Program. Their findings were published Monday in a special edition of the scientific journal Tropical Plant Biology.
“Cassava is a survivor; it’s like the Rambo of the food crops,” said climate scientist Andy Jarvis, the report’s lead author. “It deals with almost anything the climate throws at it. It thrives in high temperatures, and if drought hits it simply shuts down until the rains come again. There’s no other staple out there with this level of toughness.”
Cassava grows in poor soils and with little water. READ MORE
