Chapter Questions
Explain the difference between a tuber, a root, and a corm.
What characteristics do taro and rice have in common both in terms of production and as a food?
While attending a birthday party in Papua New Guinea a person suffers sever abdominal pain after eating a piece of cake that she assumes is made from wheat flour. What other flour might this cake contain?
Describe in some detail the different ways in which root crops may be propagated using examples from this chapter.
Explain why some root crops, grown by subsistence farmers, might not be found in local markets. You may want to refer to Chapter 1 in answering this question.
Explain how a country might be both an exporter and an importer of the same crop. Give at least three ways in which this might happen.
Root crops can have importance above and beyond their use as food. Give an example of a root crop that has this characteristic.
Only two common crops can be grown under flooded conditions; rice is one; name the other. Why might this be advantageous to a farmer in the high rainfall tropics?
Minor root crops may be an important crop in a localize area. Explain two reasons why this might be so.
Hypothesize how it might be that cassava can be reported to be exported by a country but no countries report any imports.