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Tapioca should be harvested at the age of 11-12 months. This enables annual planting every year. Extension of the harvesting time to over a year will increase the yield, but the increase will largely depend on the amount of rainfall. The starch content is likely to fall, as the crop will burgeon more leaves and much of the nutrients will be translocated from the roots to leaves instead. Harvesting should be done in summer time, when the starch content is high.
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Besides, harvesting in summer is more convenient than in the rainy season, particularly in transporting the produce to the tapioca traders and in preparing for the coming planting season. It is recommended that the farmers carry out a field test to assess the yield and starch content by randomly selecting one or two plots of the size 10-15 square metres, avoiding the best part of the land. After weighing the roots and converting to per unit land basis, the farmers should take a sample of 6-7 kgs to the traders for testing of the starch content. Then the price of the tapioca can be calculated per kilogramme. This will determine how much income per rai can be derived from the sale of tapioca. If it is not worth harvesting, then the farmers may defer the harvesting time until the price improves. However, if the harvest is prolonged, weeding may then be needed
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Harvesting should be done in dry season, as tapioca will have high %
of starch content. |
Harvesting of tapioca with age more
than 12 months will increasw yield,
butstarch contentwill be lower. |
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Source : Faculty of Agriculture
Kasetsart University |
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