Underutilized Tuber Crops for food, feed and nutritional security in Tripura

Abstract

Agriculture contributes 26 per cent of the GDP in Tripura of which the major contribution is from horticulture crops like fruits, vegetable, plantation crops and spices etc. The prevailing agro climatic conditions, surplus rainfall, good soil depth and mild acidic pH of the favors the cultivation of tuber crops viz. tapioca, sweet potato, elephant foot yam, greater yam, lesser yam, white yam, taro, swamp taro, giant taro, giant swamp taro and tannia. These crops are considered as the subsidiary food crops in the region for tribal and poor masses because the per capita availability of food grain in this region is low as compare to the national average. On the contrary, these crops play a vital role in food and nutritional security as well as livelihood of some tribal community.