Recent Increased Incidences of Potato Late Blight on the Jos Plateau: A Case for Intercropping

Chuwang Pam Zang

doi:doi:10.11648/j.aff.20140305.15

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Recent Increased Incidences of Potato Late Blight on the Jos Plateau: A Case for Intercropping

Chuwang Pam Zang

Published in Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (Volume 3, Issue 5)

Received: 10 September 2014 Accepted: 26 September 2014 Published: 30 September 2014

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Abstract

Potato cultivation on the Jos Plateau is a multi-Billion Naira enterprise which is on the very brink of collapse due to upsurge in the incidences and severity of late blight a disease caused by Phytophtora infestans (Mont) DeBary. This paper highlighted the scope of the spread of this scourge by assessing the magnitude of loses due to the disease in four zones of the potato growing region of the Jos Plateau- Bokkos, Ampang, Heipang and Vwang. The production parameters studied were the land area under potato, average yield, proportion of potato produced through sole/mono cropping, severity of the late blight epidemic and the level of adaptation of the new varieties imported from Europe the Americas and Australia. The results revealed that Bokkos was the most important potato growing area in terms of total land area, adoption of new planting materials, and sole/mono cropping system of production. The incidences and severity of the potato late blight was most serious in Bokkos, followed by Ampang, Heipang and Vwang in that order. The average yield of potato tubers (kg/ha) was highest in Ampang and least in Heipang. A brief view of the weather reports from these areas shows erratic patterns of rainfall and rise in temperature which may be attributed to the general climate change. A major trend observed in the weather report is the increase in early rainfall (March-April) which farmers tend to explore for early planting with severe consequences. The increasing tendency to adopt mono cropping by out growers for the multinational seed and other Agro-based companies was highlighted and the attendant risks involved while making a case for mixed/inter cropping. Other benefits suggested for inter cropping were higher resource use efficiencies, security against total crop lost, reduction in the use of pesticides to control diseases and pests as well as favorable environmental effects like shading, erosion control and suppressing weeds.

Published in	Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (Volume 3, Issue 5)
DOI	10.11648/j.aff.20140305.15
Page(s)	363-367
Creative Commons	This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.
Copyright	Copyright © The Author(s), 2014. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

Intercropping, Sole Cropping, Mono Cropping, Resource Use Efficiencies, Climate Change, Potato Late Blight, Incidence, Severity

References

[1]	Allard, R.W. (1961) Relationship between genetic diversity and consistency of performance in different environments. Crop Science 1: 127-133
[2]	Bindi, M.(2007) How climate change affects potato crops. Forth assessment report of climate Change report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), 2007
[3]	Bouws, H and Finckh, M.R. (2008) The effect of strip intercropping of potato with non-hosts On late blight severity and tuber yield in organic agriculture. Plant Pathology Vol 57 (5) 916-927
[4]	Chuwang, P. Z. (2006) Productivity of Potato-Maize intercrop as Influenced by N levels and Planting Arrangement. Ph.D dissertation submitted to the Post graduate school of the Ahmadu Bello University (A.B.U.) Zaria, March 2006.
[5]	Chuwang, P.Z., Odion, E.C. and Aliyu, L, (2007)The response of potato and maize yields to N fertilizer and planting pattern in Jos, Plateau state of Nigeria. Journal of League of Researchers in Nigeria (JOLORN) Vol 8 (2) 22-30
[6]	Chuwang, P.Z. (2010) Maize/Potato intercrop as influenced byN levels and planting patterns On the Plateau savanna of Kuru, Jos, Nigeria ACTA Agronomica Nigeriana Vol. 19 (2) 22-30
[7]	Chuwang, P.Z. and Odion, E.C.(2010) Nitrogen Use Efficiency of potato/ maize intercrop as Affected by N levels and arrangement in a mid- altitude location of Jos Nigeria. Agriculture Business and Technology Journal Vol 8 (2) 144-155. ISSN 2007-0807
[8]	Climate change (2007) Synthesis Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate change (IPCC) xxvii (Valencia Spain 12th -17th Nov., 2007
[9]	Daily Trust (2014) Newspaper report with caption Nigeria: Disease ravages over 500 hectares of Irish potato farms in Plateau State. 29th May 2014
[10]	FAOSTAT (2012) The Food and Agriculture Organization production statistics for 2012 Forbes,G.A. and Simon, R. (2007) Implication for a warmer, wetter world on the late pathogen: How CIP efforts can reduce risk foe low input potato farmers. International Potato Cente, Apartodo 1558 Lima, Peru Icrisat ejournal, 2007.
[11]	Gregor, P. and Author, RM. (1994) Monocropping, intercropping or crop rotation? An economic case study of west African Guinea Savanna with special reference to risk. Agricultural Systems 45(1994): 123-143
[12]	Harris, PM. (1990) Potato crop radiation use: A justification for intercropping. Field Crops Research 25: 25-39
[13]	Hijmans, RF., Forbes, GA. and Walker,TS (2000) Estimating the global severity of potato late blight with GIS- linked disease forecast models. Plant Pathology Vol 42 (6) 697-705
[14]	NRCRI (2012) The annual Potato Programme Report of the National Root Crops Research Institute, Umidike (2012).
[15]	Okwonko, JC., Ene, LSO. and Okoli, OO(1995) Potato Production in Nigeria. NCRCI, Umudike, Nigeria.
[16]	Shankar, KS (2014) Understanding the threat of potato late blight under climate change from Ecuador to Nepal. International Potato Center (IPC). Agricultural Research for development Newsletter.
[17]	Sparks, A.H.,Forbes, G.A.,Hijmans, R.J. and Garrett, K. A, (2014) Climate change effects on the global risk of potato late blight gisweb.ciat.cgiar.org/RTB Maps/Docs potato late blight also at onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/gcb.12587.
[18]	WPA (2006) World Potato Atlas: Africa-Archives, country chapter, Nigeria. Edited by Kelly Theisen of CIP Lima Peru.

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Chuwang Pam Zang. (2014). Recent Increased Incidences of Potato Late Blight on the Jos Plateau: A Case for Intercropping. Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, 3(5), 363-367. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.aff.20140305.15

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ACS Style

Chuwang Pam Zang. Recent Increased Incidences of Potato Late Blight on the Jos Plateau: A Case for Intercropping. Agric. For. Fish. 2014, 3(5), 363-367. doi: 10.11648/j.aff.20140305.15

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AMA Style

Chuwang Pam Zang. Recent Increased Incidences of Potato Late Blight on the Jos Plateau: A Case for Intercropping. Agric For Fish. 2014;3(5):363-367. doi: 10.11648/j.aff.20140305.15

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@article{10.11648/j.aff.20140305.15,
  author = {Chuwang Pam Zang},
  title = {Recent Increased Incidences of Potato Late Blight on the Jos Plateau: A Case for Intercropping},
  journal = {Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries},
  volume = {3},
  number = {5},
  pages = {363-367},
  doi = {10.11648/j.aff.20140305.15},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.aff.20140305.15},
  eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.aff.20140305.15},
  abstract = {Potato cultivation on the Jos Plateau is a multi-Billion Naira enterprise which is on the very brink of collapse due to upsurge in the incidences and severity of late blight a disease caused by Phytophtora infestans (Mont) DeBary. This paper highlighted the scope of the spread of this scourge by assessing the magnitude of loses due to the disease in four zones of the potato growing region of the Jos Plateau- Bokkos, Ampang, Heipang and Vwang. The production parameters studied were the land area under potato, average yield, proportion of potato produced through sole/mono cropping, severity of the late blight epidemic and the level of adaptation of the new varieties imported from Europe the Americas and Australia. The results revealed that Bokkos was the most important potato growing area in terms of total land area, adoption of new planting materials, and sole/mono cropping system of production. The incidences and severity of the potato late blight was most serious in Bokkos, followed by Ampang, Heipang and Vwang in that order. The average yield of potato tubers (kg/ha) was highest in Ampang and least in Heipang. A brief view of the weather reports from these areas shows erratic patterns of rainfall and rise in temperature which may be attributed to the general climate change. A major trend observed in the weather report is the increase in early rainfall (March-April) which farmers tend to explore for early planting with severe consequences.  The increasing tendency to adopt mono cropping by out growers for the multinational seed and other Agro-based companies was highlighted and the attendant risks involved while making a case for mixed/inter cropping. Other benefits suggested for inter cropping were higher resource use efficiencies, security against total crop lost, reduction in the use of pesticides to control diseases and pests as well as favorable environmental effects like shading, erosion control and suppressing weeds.},
 year = {2014}
}

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TY  - JOUR
T1  - Recent Increased Incidences of Potato Late Blight on the Jos Plateau: A Case for Intercropping
AU  - Chuwang Pam Zang
Y1  - 2014/09/30
PY  - 2014
N1  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.aff.20140305.15
DO  - 10.11648/j.aff.20140305.15
T2  - Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries
JF  - Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries
JO  - Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries
SP  - 363
EP  - 367
PB  - Science Publishing Group
SN  - 2328-5648
UR  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.aff.20140305.15
AB  - Potato cultivation on the Jos Plateau is a multi-Billion Naira enterprise which is on the very brink of collapse due to upsurge in the incidences and severity of late blight a disease caused by Phytophtora infestans (Mont) DeBary. This paper highlighted the scope of the spread of this scourge by assessing the magnitude of loses due to the disease in four zones of the potato growing region of the Jos Plateau- Bokkos, Ampang, Heipang and Vwang. The production parameters studied were the land area under potato, average yield, proportion of potato produced through sole/mono cropping, severity of the late blight epidemic and the level of adaptation of the new varieties imported from Europe the Americas and Australia. The results revealed that Bokkos was the most important potato growing area in terms of total land area, adoption of new planting materials, and sole/mono cropping system of production. The incidences and severity of the potato late blight was most serious in Bokkos, followed by Ampang, Heipang and Vwang in that order. The average yield of potato tubers (kg/ha) was highest in Ampang and least in Heipang. A brief view of the weather reports from these areas shows erratic patterns of rainfall and rise in temperature which may be attributed to the general climate change. A major trend observed in the weather report is the increase in early rainfall (March-April) which farmers tend to explore for early planting with severe consequences.  The increasing tendency to adopt mono cropping by out growers for the multinational seed and other Agro-based companies was highlighted and the attendant risks involved while making a case for mixed/inter cropping. Other benefits suggested for inter cropping were higher resource use efficiencies, security against total crop lost, reduction in the use of pesticides to control diseases and pests as well as favorable environmental effects like shading, erosion control and suppressing weeds.
VL  - 3
IS  - 5
ER  -

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Author Information

Chuwang Pam Zang

Department of Crop Science, Faculty of Agriculture , University of Abuja, Nigeria

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Chuwang Pam Zang. (2014). Recent Increased Incidences of Potato Late Blight on the Jos Plateau: A Case for Intercropping. Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, 3(5), 363-367. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.aff.20140305.15

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ACS Style

Chuwang Pam Zang. Recent Increased Incidences of Potato Late Blight on the Jos Plateau: A Case for Intercropping. Agric. For. Fish. 2014, 3(5), 363-367. doi: 10.11648/j.aff.20140305.15

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AMA Style

Chuwang Pam Zang. Recent Increased Incidences of Potato Late Blight on the Jos Plateau: A Case for Intercropping. Agric For Fish. 2014;3(5):363-367. doi: 10.11648/j.aff.20140305.15

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@article{10.11648/j.aff.20140305.15,
  author = {Chuwang Pam Zang},
  title = {Recent Increased Incidences of Potato Late Blight on the Jos Plateau: A Case for Intercropping},
  journal = {Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries},
  volume = {3},
  number = {5},
  pages = {363-367},
  doi = {10.11648/j.aff.20140305.15},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.aff.20140305.15},
  eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.aff.20140305.15},
  abstract = {Potato cultivation on the Jos Plateau is a multi-Billion Naira enterprise which is on the very brink of collapse due to upsurge in the incidences and severity of late blight a disease caused by Phytophtora infestans (Mont) DeBary. This paper highlighted the scope of the spread of this scourge by assessing the magnitude of loses due to the disease in four zones of the potato growing region of the Jos Plateau- Bokkos, Ampang, Heipang and Vwang. The production parameters studied were the land area under potato, average yield, proportion of potato produced through sole/mono cropping, severity of the late blight epidemic and the level of adaptation of the new varieties imported from Europe the Americas and Australia. The results revealed that Bokkos was the most important potato growing area in terms of total land area, adoption of new planting materials, and sole/mono cropping system of production. The incidences and severity of the potato late blight was most serious in Bokkos, followed by Ampang, Heipang and Vwang in that order. The average yield of potato tubers (kg/ha) was highest in Ampang and least in Heipang. A brief view of the weather reports from these areas shows erratic patterns of rainfall and rise in temperature which may be attributed to the general climate change. A major trend observed in the weather report is the increase in early rainfall (March-April) which farmers tend to explore for early planting with severe consequences.  The increasing tendency to adopt mono cropping by out growers for the multinational seed and other Agro-based companies was highlighted and the attendant risks involved while making a case for mixed/inter cropping. Other benefits suggested for inter cropping were higher resource use efficiencies, security against total crop lost, reduction in the use of pesticides to control diseases and pests as well as favorable environmental effects like shading, erosion control and suppressing weeds.},
 year = {2014}
}

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TY  - JOUR
T1  - Recent Increased Incidences of Potato Late Blight on the Jos Plateau: A Case for Intercropping
AU  - Chuwang Pam Zang
Y1  - 2014/09/30
PY  - 2014
N1  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.aff.20140305.15
DO  - 10.11648/j.aff.20140305.15
T2  - Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries
JF  - Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries
JO  - Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries
SP  - 363
EP  - 367
PB  - Science Publishing Group
SN  - 2328-5648
UR  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.aff.20140305.15
AB  - Potato cultivation on the Jos Plateau is a multi-Billion Naira enterprise which is on the very brink of collapse due to upsurge in the incidences and severity of late blight a disease caused by Phytophtora infestans (Mont) DeBary. This paper highlighted the scope of the spread of this scourge by assessing the magnitude of loses due to the disease in four zones of the potato growing region of the Jos Plateau- Bokkos, Ampang, Heipang and Vwang. The production parameters studied were the land area under potato, average yield, proportion of potato produced through sole/mono cropping, severity of the late blight epidemic and the level of adaptation of the new varieties imported from Europe the Americas and Australia. The results revealed that Bokkos was the most important potato growing area in terms of total land area, adoption of new planting materials, and sole/mono cropping system of production. The incidences and severity of the potato late blight was most serious in Bokkos, followed by Ampang, Heipang and Vwang in that order. The average yield of potato tubers (kg/ha) was highest in Ampang and least in Heipang. A brief view of the weather reports from these areas shows erratic patterns of rainfall and rise in temperature which may be attributed to the general climate change. A major trend observed in the weather report is the increase in early rainfall (March-April) which farmers tend to explore for early planting with severe consequences.  The increasing tendency to adopt mono cropping by out growers for the multinational seed and other Agro-based companies was highlighted and the attendant risks involved while making a case for mixed/inter cropping. Other benefits suggested for inter cropping were higher resource use efficiencies, security against total crop lost, reduction in the use of pesticides to control diseases and pests as well as favorable environmental effects like shading, erosion control and suppressing weeds.
VL  - 3
IS  - 5
ER  -

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