Africa must significantly increase investment in root and tuber crops to strengthen food security, improve agricultural productivity and build resilience against climate change, Professor Michael Osei Adu of the University of Cape Coast (UCC) has urged.
He said crops such as cassava, yam, taro and cocoyam remained critical to the continent’s food systems but have not received the level of scientific research, funding and policy attention required to unlock their full potential.
According to him, the neglect extends beyond the crops themselves to the underground systems responsible for their growth, nutrient absorption, water uptake and overall productivity.
Prof. Adu, a Professor of Crop Ecophysiology and Improvement at UCC, made the call while delivering his inaugural lecture at the University’s School of Graduate Studies (SGS) Auditorium on Thursday, November 5, 2026.
The lecture, titled “The Underground Gospel: Roots, the Neglected, and the Tuberous Route to Africa’s Food Security,” was chaired by the Vice-Chancellor of UCC, Professor Denis Worlanyo Aheto.
He argued that agricultural research priorities across Africa needed to be reconsidered to reflect the crops that millions of people depend on for their daily food and livelihoods.
Prof. Adu observed that roots and tubers had supplied more than half of Ghana’s dietary energy over the past four decades, making them indispensable to the country’s food security.
Despite their importance, he said, research into the underground characteristics of these crops remained limited.
He disclosed that fewer than one in five studies conducted on root and tuber crops had focused on their root systems, leaving significant gaps in scientific understanding.
The situation, he noted, is particularly concerning in the case of yam, taro and cocoyam, where research remained inadequate, with much of the available scientific work conducted outside Africa.
He said the imbalance highlights the need for African research institutions and governments to pay greater attention to crops that are central to the continent’s food consumption and agricultural systems.
According to him, understanding the characteristics of root systems is essential because they determine how effectively plants access water and nutrients from the soil.
This becomes particularly important as farmers increasingly face high temperatures, prolonged dry spells, drought conditions and declining soil quality, all of which threaten agricultural production.
Prof. Adu explained that improving the underground characteristics of root and tuber crops could significantly increase agricultural productivity and strengthen farmers’ ability to withstand environmental pressures.
He identified root depth, growth angle and root development patterns as important characteristics that influence a plant’s ability to access water and essential nutrients.
He said improving these traits through scientific research and crop breeding could help develop varieties capable of performing better under difficult environmental conditions.
Citing modelling studies, Prof. Adu indicated that targeted improvements in root characteristics could potentially increase crop yields by between 12 and 25 per cent.
He, however, cautioned that the figures represented projections based on stated assumptions and should not be interpreted as yield improvements already demonstrated on farmers’ fields.
The findings, he explained, nevertheless points to the considerable opportunities available through sustained investment in root research and crop improvement.
Drawing on research conducted by his laboratory, Prof. Adu disclosed that characteristics measured in young cassava plants could explain more than one-third of the variation in their eventual yields at maturity.
He said the discovery could provide an important scientific advantage for crop breeders by enabling them to identify promising planting materials at an earlier stage.
This, he explained, could make breeding programmes more efficient by reducing the time and resources required to identify cassava varieties with desirable productivity characteristics.
He also highlighted research exploring useful traits in wild bush yam, as well as efforts to broaden the genetic base of Ghanaian taro and improve its tolerance to drought and leaf blight.
The professor further disclosed that he had contributed to the development of nine cassava varieties registered in Ghana since 2019.
He said such scientific interventions demonstrated the importance of research in developing improved planting materials capable of meeting farmers’ needs and responding to changing environmental conditions.
Prof. Adu called on African governments, research institutions and development partners to increase investment in agricultural research, particularly in areas that had historically received limited attention.
He argued that the allocation of research funding should be guided by the level of a population’s dependence on particular crops and the existing gaps in scientific knowledge, rather than being determined mainly by export earnings or the availability of established research infrastructure.
He maintained that crops with significant contributions to household food security deserved substantial research attention, even when they were not major export commodities.
He also called for the establishment of regional research facilities dedicated to studying root characteristics, alongside stronger institutional support for African scientists and sustained breeding programmes for neglected crops.
While acknowledging the importance of international research partnerships, Prof. Adu stressed that African countries must take greater responsibility for financing their own agricultural research priorities.
He said domestic investment is necessary to build local scientific capacity, strengthen research institutions and ensure that studies addressed the continent’s specific agricultural and environmental challenges.
Beyond generating scientific knowledge, Prof. Adu emphasised the need to translate research findings into practical interventions that directly benefit farmers.
He said improved crop varieties would have limited impact if farmers could not access quality planting materials or receive the necessary technical support to adopt them.
He therefore called for stronger seed systems, improved extension services and effective mechanisms to ensure that research outcomes moved beyond laboratories and experimental stations into farming communities.
He stressed that sustained investment in root and tuber crops should complement, rather than replace, existing efforts to improve the production of major staples such as maize, wheat and rice.
According to him, building a more diversified and resilient food system would require African countries to recognise the contributions of different crops and invest in improving their productivity.
He maintained that giving root and tuber crops the scientific attention they deserved could help address food insecurity, improve agricultural resilience and strengthen the continent’s capacity to feed its growing population.
Prof. Adu’s lecture ultimately highlighted the need for a shift in Africa’s agricultural research agenda, with greater recognition of the critical role played by underground crop systems in determining food production and sustainability.
By Kwame Kakraba
