Role of root and tuber crops in food production strategy for semi-subsistence agriculture

Persistent population pressure on agricultural land in the tropics has led to the evolution of food production strategies heavily weighted towards increasing productivity per unit of land. In many of these same areas, tropical root crops represent a major item in the national food economies. Given this scenario, this paper examines the potential role of tropical root crops in meeting domestic food needs. First, the present contribution of root crops to food production is briefly summarised and used to provide simple guidelines for allocating research resources. These guidelines are somewhat deficient in that they overlook a number of energetic considerations of importance at both the individual producer and national level. To illustrate, a two-goods model of a semi-subsistence agricultural production unit is constructed and some conclusions drawn which lend weight to the opinion that tropical root crop research should receive high priority.