Abstract
This book chapter outlines the future steps in improving the status of the tropical tuber crops: (1) reduce the period of maturity of all the TTCs to 110-150 days, (2) improve the tuber shape and make them more definitive in shape, (3) improve plant architecture to attain a harvest index of 0.70, (4) eliminate antinutritional factors and improve nutritive values, (5) impart resistance to the three major biotic problems afflicting the TTCs: CMD (cassava mosaic disease), taro leaf blight and sweet potato weevil, (6) introduce determinacy in cassava and yams, (7) increase the post-harvest storage life, (8) reduce the loss during post-harvest storage, transportation and processing, (9) use biotechnological means to alter starch characteristics like amylose content, chain length and phosphorus content in starch, (10) it is also suggested that there should be a 'starch bank', which acts as a repository of different starches and provides information on all physicochemical and functional properties for various applications to researchers and industries, and (11) an organization to carry out exclusive research on tuber starches may be established in any of the TTC-growing countries.
