assessing production constraints and farmer preference for ... · willingness to accept low-sugar,...
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1.Biotechnology and Nuclear Agric Research
Institute, GAEC Kwabenya, Accra. 2. School of
Agriculture, University of Ghana, Legon. 3.
International Potato Center (CIP), c/o CSIR-CRI, P.O.
Box 3785, Kumasi, Ghana
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Abstract A Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA) was
carried out in three regions of Ghana to identify
farmers’ production constraints and
preferences for sweetpotato. Drought ranked
highest among the production constraints
identified. Farmers preferred poundable, low-
sweet and high dry matter varieties. The lack
of these traits in current cultivars is a limiting
factor to its frequent utilization in traditional
food preparations. Farmers expressed their
willingness to accept low-sugar, high dry matter
and poundable varieties. Drought tolerance,
high yielding, disease and pest resistance
ranked highest among preferred agronomic
traits.
Assessing production constraints and farmer preference for
sweetpotato through a PRA study and structured survey
Literature cited
FAOSTAT (2012). Food and Agricultural
Organization of the United Nations,
Production statistics [Online]. Available at
http://faostat.fao.org. (Accessed on 21st
September, 2010). FAO Rome, Italy.
Lin, K. H., Lai, Y. C., Chang, K. Y., Chen, Y. F.,
Hwang, S. Y., and LO, H. F. (2007). Improving
breeding efficiency for quality and yield of
sweetpotato. Botanical studies 48, 283-292.
Low, J. W., Arimond, M., Osman, N., Cunguara,
B., Zano, F., and Tschirley, D. (2007). A Food-
Based Approach. Introducing Orange-
Fleshed Sweetpotatoes Increased Vitamin A
Intake and Serum Retinol Concentrations in
Young Children in Rural Mozambique.
Journal of Nutrition 137, 1320-1327.
Conclusions 1.Farmers in Ghana prefer high dry
matter, poundable and low- sweet
sweetpotato
2.Current varieties are unsuitable for
use in traditional food preparations
3.New types for diversified usage
including utilization in traditional
food preparations are necessary.
4.In the development of new types
breeders must also consider
agronomic traits such as drought
and disease resistance
Acknowledgement
Results 1. Production constraints (Fig. 3)
• Farmers listed 14 constraints to production
• 44% ranked drought highest followed by
low market prices, high labour cost, low
utilization, pest and diseases.
4. Acceptance of low sweet cultivar
• 70% of farmers were willing to accept
low-sweet cultivars (Fig. 6)
Vivian Oduro 1, E. E. Blay 2, S. K. Offei 2, I.K. Asante 2 and E. E Carey 3
Materials and methods
A Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA) was
carried out in three regions of Ghana (Fig.
2.).Two or three districts within each region
was selected. Altogether, 647 farmers in 27
farming communities were involved in focus
group (Fig. 3) discussions using semi-
structured questionnaire, matrix and pairwise
ranking. Each focus group involved 15-30
farmers. PRA sites were geo-referenced with
GPS. One hundred and twenty structured
questionnaires were administered in each
region, to complement PRA study
Fig 2:Study areas within the 3 regions
Introduction Sweetpotato is nutritionally more superior
to most staples.(Lin et at, 2007; Low et al
2007). However, production in Ghana has
more or less stagnated over a decade (Fig.
1) with annual average production figures
of about 117,000 tons (FAOSTAT, 2011).
One factor among others, responsible for
this trend is the low investment in
sweetpotato research. Current varieties are
therefore inadequate in meeting farmers’
varietal needs, with a corresponding
deficiency in consumer preferred traits. To
understand the dynamics of sweetpotato
production and utilization in Ghana, it was
important to interact with farmers who are
both producers and users so as to identify
priority areas for research.
• Farmers listed 9 quality attributes they
would want in a sweetpotato (figure 4)
• Less sweet, poundable, flesh colour,
high dry matter were among the highest
ranked traits.
3. Agronomic and eating quality
• The highest ranked agronomic traits were
drought tolerance, disease & pest
resistance, high yields and good quality
vines
2. Local preparation methods
• Sweetpotato is prepared mainly in three ways
in Ghana (Fig. 4)