Og det kan få afgørende betydning for, om millioner af mennesker fremover får mad på bordet, når temperaturen stiger i troperne – men som ved alt er der en en slange i paradiset, siger forskere.
KAMPALA, 20 June 2012 (IRIN): An alliance of scientists has been formed to help promote cassava, which has emerged as a “survivor” crop able to thrive in the expected higher temperatures engendered (skabt) by climate change, a scientific conference in the Ugandan capital, Kampala, heard.
Some 300 scientists attending the second International Scientific Conference of the Global Cassava Partnership for the 21st Century (GCP-21-II) announced the alliance, named the “Global Cassava Modelling Consortium”.
The alliance will offer a platform to world cassava researchers to share research information, better understand the physiology of the plant, and explore avenues for protecting it from attacks now that it has even greater importance for the food security of many regions in the world.
The new consortium will initially establish a loose network of scientists sharing and analysing current cassava research and historical research data. As it grows, the network will include the sharing of experiences with cassava farmers across the Tropics, with farms being treated as experimental stations in their own right.
Andy Jarvis, a climate change scientist, told the conference that a study published in February in the journal Tropical Plant Biology revealed that temperatures in East and West Africa – two major cassava growing regions – are expected to rise by around 1,8 degrees Celsius by 2030, but that the cassava plant will thrive.
Jarvis, working for the International Centre for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT) and CGIAR’s Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS) Research Programme, stated:
“While this rising temperature poses problems for the suitability of food staples (grundnæringsmidler) like bean, banana and sorghum (durra), cassava suitability is likely to be the exception to the rule… Research shows that it will brush off (afvise/modstå) the higher temperatures”.
“Its potential is tremendously exciting. But now we have to act promptly on the research, as more pests and diseases are manifesting themselves because of climate change”, added he.
Cassava is the second most important source of carbohydrates (kulhydrater) in sub-Saharan African, after maize, and is eaten by around 500 million people every day, according to the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).
Globally, 280 million tons are produced every year, with half the supply coming from Africa; Uganda produces 5,4 million tons of cassava every year. It is also grown by millions of smallholder farmers (småbønder) in Southeast Asia and Latin America.
Achilles heel
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http://www.irinnews.org/Report/95694/CLIMATE-CHANGE-Cassava-key-to-food-security-say-scientists
