By Obiabin Onukwugha
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Potato is a starchy root vegetable food consumed by many.
Potatoes come handy for low income families, and can be eaten as alternate for yam.
This staple food can be eaten as porridge, marched, pepper soup or with gravy. It can also be cooked with beans as an alternative for ripe plantain because of it sweet taste. Furthermore, potatoes are fried and eaten with sauce.
Vegetarians consume a lot of potatoes because it’s rich in nutrients and the fiber content make them maintain good and healthy body weight.
Potatoes takes about three months to mature for harvest, and depending on the variety you plant, your harvest season could last several months.
Potatoes therefore can be readily used to cushion hunger and economic hardship.
But knowing how to achieve great harvest for your potatoes is very important.
Potato is a creeping vegetable. Many farmers believe that allowing them to creep gives room for production of more tubers. However, it has been observed that staking allows for more bountiful harvest.
When you stake potatoes, they concentrate on producing tubers only at the root, said Gift Emmanuel, a potato farmer in Rivers State, who spoke with NatureNews.
He said unlike the popular belief, potatoes produce giant tubers when you stake them, which in real terms are more than spreading tubers when allowed to creep. He said whether in sacks or planted on bare land, staking is the surest way to achieving bountiful harvest.
Another way is planting them with carefully selected companion plants that will enhance their flavor and help them grow without the threat of disease or pests.
Crops companion planting involves strategically placing two or more plants next to each other that will offer benefits including adding nutrients into the soil, repelling pests, and creating the right environment for a more flavorful crop. Often, two companion plants will require the same growing conditions such as light, soil, water, but they’ll thrive based on different nutrients.
For potatoes, the best companion plants are often those that grow with shallow root systems. These won’t disturb the deep roots of potatoes. They are spinach, garlic, beans, cabbage, lettuce, basil, amongst others.
So, whether at your garden, backyard or farmland, planting potatoes will add to your food security.
