( WHAT IS SWEET POTATO?)
Ipomoea batatas L. commonly known as Sweet potato is a dicotyledonous plant belonging to the family Convolvulaceae. It is a sweet tasting, starchy tuberous root that is edible. The young shoots and leaves can also be eaten. The sweet potato belongs to the order Solanales.
Ipomea batatas is a perennial vine that usually bears heart shaped or palmate leaves and its flowers are sympetalous (Williams et. al., 1968). The tuberous root which is edible varies in shape but are usually long and tapered. The skin is smooth and can be orange, red, yellow, purple, brown, and beige in color depending on the variety. The sweet potato cultivars bearing white or yellow skin are less sweat and moist than those with red, pink or orange skin.
The Origin of Ipomoea batatas is one shrouded in mystery. Some believe it originated in Central America while some believe it came from South America. It is well know that as early as 5000 years ago, Ipomoea batatas was domesticated in Central America. While some sources dates some remnants of Ipomoea batatas as far back 8000BC. These remnants were found in Peru in South America.
It is also postulated that the Origin of I. batatas might have been between the Yucatan Peninsula of Mexico and the mouth of the Onrinoco River in Venezuela. It is believed I. batatas spread from here to the Caribbean and South America about 2500BC.
It is also known that sweet potato was grown in Polynesia as early as 1000 AD, this was before the arrival of western exploration. It has been radiocarbon-dated in the cook islands of Polynesia to 1000 AD according to Wikipedia. Before its wide spread into Europe, Christopher Columbus brought sweet potato from South Americas on his return to Spain from his first voyage in 1492 (Purseglove, 1968)
SWEET POTATO IN AFRICA
Not much is known about the spread of sweet potato to Africa. It is believed that during the 1500s, 1600s, and 1700s, Spanish traders and Portuguese mariners brought sweet potato to North Africa where they traded it off for other wares and this trend was later continued by other Europeans It then spread from North Africa into other regions of the continent (Huntington, 1997). It was also during these times that a great awakening of the knowledge of sweet potato began. I. batatas spread to China, India, Philippians and much of the Oriental world where it became a main delicacy.
SWEET POTATO CULTIVATION
Sweet potatoes are cultivated throughout tropical and warm temperate regions of the world. They are found or grown in areas among these regions where there is sufficient water to support their growth and survival.
In Africa the crop is well established in areas having humid condition. They are predominantly found from the coast of Guinea Bissau across West Africa and the Congo Basin, to the high lands of East Africa and farther East and South, including Madagascar.
I. batatas grows best under much sunshine and warm nights and are known to be frost sensitive. Ideal pH for growth is between 5.8 and 6.2, although they will tolerate a more acidic pH up to 5.0. Annual rainfalls of 750-1000mm (30-39 in) are considered suitable, with a minimum of 500mm (20 in) during the growing season. Ipomea batatas is very sensitive to drought and thus will not sprout in dry soil, it is also sensitive to water logging, as this might cause the tuber to rot and also a reduction of growth of storage roots if aeration is poor.
Sweet potato matures between 90 to 170 days depending on the variety of the cultivar and the conditions available. They are usually propagated by stem, root cuttings or by adventitious shoots known as “slips” that grow out from the tuberous roots during storage. They have few natural enemies and thus can be grown in different farming condition with success.
They can be grown in poor soil with less fertilizer. However, they are very sensitive to aluminum toxicity and will die at about six weeks if the soil is left untreated with lime. Sweet Potato can be grown with little weeding since the rapidly growing vines shade out weeds. The pesticide DCPA, also known as Dacathal is commonly used in killing weeds.
In Africa, including Nigeria, sweet potato cultivation is majorly seen among subsistence farms. These farms cultivate the plant on small farms and are focused mainly on providing food for their families. In most countries including Nigeria, sweet potato cultivation is not only locally concentrated (Huccaho and Hijmans, 2000).
In 1994, the United Nations and Agricultural Organization (FAO) estimated that sweet potato cultivation in Nigeria covers an area of 69,000 hectares. This estimate had increased to over 500,000 in 2003 (FAOSTAT,2004).
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