Tag Archives: Drought

Currently, more than 95 % of the areas dedicated to sweet potato production in Cuba are planted with cultivars from the Genetic Improvement Program (PMG) of the Research Institute of Tropical Roots and Tubers Crops. However, none of these commercial cultivars, possess the characteristics for an adequate adaptation to the …

The Emergency potato and sweetpotato seed support enabled farmers in the Southern Nations Nationalities and People’s Region (SNNPR) to restore the varieties they lost to a severe drought in 2015/2017, and improve household food and nutrition security. From June 2016 to June 2018, 13,000 direct benefi ciary farmers and over …

Vines are the major source of planting material in sweetpotato. Extended dry spells hinder conservation of vines and in turn affect the availability of planting material at the onset of rains in southern Africa. In some cases, improved sweetpotato germplasm has been lost by smallholder farmers in Mozambique due to …

Drought ranks quite highly in terms of weather-related economic impacts, with annual losses nearing US$ 90 billion per year.  Apart from their direct economic impacts, droughts can threaten drinking water supplies and ecosystems, damage agriculture in a significant way, and contribute to increased food prices. In addition, crop failures, which …

Roots and tubers such as potatoes and cassava rank within the top six among the world’s most important food crops, yet the extent to which their global production has been adversely affected by drought remains unclear. Greater uncertainties exist on how drought effects co-vary with: (1) root and tuber species, …

Everybody knows that agriculture heavily relies on weather and that a single storm can change the entire growing season. Drought can be devastating. This year’s drought has been a particularly severe one. That, my friends, is why farmers complain so much about the weather! As we get close to the …