Abstract
Sweet potato is an important ‘indigenised’ root crop in South Africa. It features prominently in smallholder cropping systems because of its versatility, drought tolerance and positive role in food security. It outranks most staple crops in vitamins, minerals, dietary fibre and protein content. Much information is available on sweet potato as a drought tolerant and food security crop, but critical reviews that link its drought tolerance with food security are lacking. We review sweet potato as a food security crop, focusing on mechanisms associated with drought. We conclude that the crop has great potential in the light of imminent challenges associated with drought as a negative effect of climate change.
Highlights
Sweet potato (Ipomoea batatas L.) is considered an important, versatile and underutilised food security crop.[1,2] It belongs to the second most important set of food crops in developing countries, namely root crops.[1]
The fact that sweet potato can synthesise β-carotene to protect itself from oxidation stress and further store the β-carotene in both leaves and storage roots, is an indication that it is an important food security crop which can withstand drought stress conditions and still alleviate chronic malnutrition diseases associated with vitamin A deficiencies
Sweet potato remains an important root crop with an inherent ability to produce more edible energy than most major food crops. It is suitable for production on marginal lands and can play an important role as a food security crop
Summary
AFFILIATION: 1School of Agricultural, Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, South Africa. POSTAL ADDRESS: School of Agricultural, Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Private Bag X1, Scottsville 3209, South Africa. Sweet potato (Ipomoea batatas L.) as a drought tolerant and food security crop. Sweet potato is an important ‘indigenised’ root crop in South Africa. It features prominently in smallholder cropping systems because of its versatility, drought tolerance and positive role in food security. It outranks most staple crops in vitamins, minerals, dietary fibre and protein content. We review sweet potato as a food security crop, focusing on mechanisms associated with drought. We conclude that the crop has great potential in the light of imminent challenges associated with drought as a negative effect of climate change
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