General
Production Requirements
·
Sweet potato is very sensitive to frost and cold. It
requires hot days and warm nights for optimum growth, with mean monthly
temperatures of 21°C to 29°C.
·
Popular varieties are Lukulu, Mulungushi, Kalungwishi,
Lwangwa, Lunga, Kafue and Chingovwa.
·
Sweet potato requires 4 to 6 months to produce economic
yields.
·
A well-managed sweet potato crop should yield 5 to 7.5
tons per Lima (20 to 39 tons/ha).
Land
Preparation/Soil Type
·
Deep, loose well drained loamy soils (does poorly on
clay soils) with a pH range from 5.5 to 6.5 are ideal for sweet potato.
·
Effective rooting depth is 60cm. Deep plough field and
harrow to a 60cm fine tilth seedbed.
·
Sweet potato is relatively tolerant to drought but cannot
withstand waterlogging; therefore vines must be planted on 30 to 50cm ridges to
avoid waterlogging. Preferred soil moisture is 60 to 75% of maximum water
holding capacity.
Planting
·
Plant 30 to 40cm long healthy vine cuttings at spacing
25cm between plants and 90cm between rows to give a plant population of 45,000
plants /hectare.
·
Recommended time of planting is January.
Fertilizer
Programme
·
At planting apply Veg Mix C 6.5gm /plant (75 kg/Lima) –
5cm away from the plant and 5cm deep.
·
40 days after germination top-dress using Veg Top 32
2.5gm/plant (30kg/Lima) - 5cm away x 5cm deep on an overcast or rainy day to
ensure adequate moisture for dissolving of fertilizer in the soil.
Management
Practices
·
Weeds compete with plants for nutrients and
space; they can reduce yields by more than 25%. Keep the field free from weeds
at all times.
·
Rodents, Leaf miner, Nematods, Weevils, Hawk moth larvae
and Red spider mites are common pests while Virus degeneration is the main
problem. Post-harvest tuber rot of uncured tubers can cause a great loss.
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