Competition among the root and cereal staples in tropical agricultural development

We have seen that the root crops tend to have slightly higher caloric yields per unit area per unit of time, and that the genetical potential still untapped through breeding is much higher in root crops than in the cereals. With few exceptions, the root crops have lower costs of production than most of the cereals, but the importance of this is largely related to the farmer"s returns which, as we have seen, vary with the region under study. In very general terms, the root crops appear to be superior to the cereals in terms of cost of production and yielding ability, and the latter seems to have considerable room for improvement. Protein deficiencies between the two staple crop groups are not as great as previously stressed. Finally, as breeding programs for the tropical root crops are initiated and expanded, the author recommends that they be accompanied by research on storability and processing. It seems imperative that the tropical root and tuber crops be given considerably more emphasis on present tropical agricultural development schemes than is presently being done.