ABSTRACT
This study sought to determine
the adoption and disadoption of sweetpotato production and processing
technologies by farmers in the South-east zone of Nigeria. The specific
objectives were to: determine the level of awareness of the sweetpotato
production and processing technologies among farmers in the zone; determine the
extent of adoption and disadoption of the sweetpotato production and processing
technologies by farmers in the zone; examine the determinants of adoption and
disadoption of the sweetpotato production and processing technologies in the
study area and identify the constraints to the adoption of sweetpotato
production and processing technologies in the zone. Using the multistage
sampling technique, and the structured interview schedule as instrument, data
for the study were collected from a sample of two hundred and seventy (270)
sweetpotato farmers in the zone. Percentages, mean scores, probit analysis and
exploratory factor analysis procedure were used as statistical tools for data
analysis. The findings of the study showed that majority (79.63%) of the
farmers (270) were
aware of the sweetpotato production technology, whereas the processing
technology recorded a low level of awareness. With regard to the extent of
adoption of the sweetpotato production practices, majority (37.9%) of the
farmers adopted the use of ridges and mounds, as well as improved sweetpotato
varieties, while majority (40.2%) of them rejected the recommended plant
spacing of 30cm x 100cm on ridges and 25cm x 100cm on mounds for both sole and
intercropped systems. Most (34.2%) of the farmers used the 2-node and 5/6-node
vine cuttings as planting materials, as well as time for planting of
sweetpotato, weeding regime of one major weeding at 4-6 weeks after planting,
inorganic fertilizer application of 400kg of NPK 20:10:10, earthening-up
practice, timely harvest of root tubers and pest and disease control measures.
The extent of disadoption of the sweetpotato production technology was low. In
the processing of fermented sweetpotato fufu flour, majority of the farmers
adopted the practices of peeling and washing of sweetpotato root tubers,
cutting of the root tubers into 2.5mm-3.0mm chips, fermenting of the chips by
soaking in
water for 24 hours, draining of water from fermented chips and sun-drying of
chips on raised platforms or oven-drying at a temperature of 50oC.
Majority of them also mill the dried chips properly to produce the flour and
package the flour in polyethylene bags or air-tight containers. With regard to
the extent of adoption of the practices involved in the processing of
unfermented sweetpotato flour, most of the farmers adopted the innovation of
peeling and washing of root tubers of sweetpotato, grating of the root tubers
into mash and dewatering of the mash in a clean bag. Majority of the farmers also
adopted sun-drying the dewatered mash on raised platform or oven-drying at a
temperature of 50oC, milling the dried mash and packaging the flour
in polyethylene bags or air-tight containers. In processing of sweetpotato
starch, majority of the farmers adopted the practices of peeling and washing of
the root tubers, grating of the root tubers into mash, dewatering of mash in
clean bags and mixing dewatered mash with quantity of water that is 10 times
the volume of mash. Other practices adopted by majority of the farmers included
sieving of mash with muslin cloth, sedimenting, decanting and collection of
starch, sun-drying of starch on raised platform or oven-drying at a temperature
of 50oC, milling of the dried starch and packaging in polyethylene
bags or air-tight containers. Household size, labour, land and health
significantly influenced the adoption of the sweetpotato production and
processing technologies. Age, marital status and participation in credit system
were important in predicting farmers who will continue to use the sweetpotato
technologies, while sweetpotato problems significantly influenced the
disadoption of the technologies. Production/processing complexity problems,
economic problems, poor technical information and pathological problems were
the main constraints to the adoption of the sweetpotato production and
processing technologies. It was recommended that researchers, policy makers and
administrators of extension services consider seriously these issues which
constitute limiting factors to increased sweetpotato production and processing
in the study area.
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background
information
Sweetpotato
(Ipomoea batatas (L) Lam) is a herbaceous, warm-weather creeping plant
belonging to the family Convolvulaceae and genus Ipomoea (Woolfe,
1992). The family is made up of 45 genera and 1,000 species, out of which only Ipomoea
batatas is of economic importance to man and animals (Woolfe, 1992). It is
known to be among the world’s most important, versatile and under-exploited
food crops (International Potato Centre (CIP), 1999). With more than 133
million tonnes in annual production, sweetpotato currently ranks as the fifth
most important food crop on a fresh-weight basis in developing countries after
rice, wheat, maize and cassava (CIP, 1999). Average yields in several countries
are well below the average yield of 15 tonnes per hectare for developing
countries as a whole, and these in turn are well below the crop’s potential.
In the last
decade, there has been a positive growth rate for sweetpotato production in
China, as well as a number of developing countries (CIP, 1999). China tops the
list of world largest producers of sweetpotato with 106,197,100 metric tonnes
while Nigeria is third largest producer with 2,150,000 metric tonnes annually.
In Africa, Nigeria is second largest producer of sweetpotato after Uganda with
2,600,000 metric tonnes annually (National Root Crops Research Institute,
2009).
In Nigeria,
the production, marketing and utilization of sweetpotato have expanded to
almost all the ecological zones within the past decade (NRCRI, 2009), and
200,000 to 400,000 hectares of land are under sweetpotato cultivation. Yields
of
Sweetpotato
is traditionally used as boiled root tubers eaten with stew, boiled and pounded
with either boiled or fermented cassava as fufu or boiled or pounded yam. It is
also dried and milled for sweetening of gruel (‘ogi’) porridge, sliced into
chips, dried and boiled with beans or vegetables, sliced into chips and fried
in vegetable oil, in addition to processing into flour for sweetening ‘kunu’ or
pap. Furthermore, root tubers are boiled, sliced, sun-dried and used later as
snacks, processed into flour for making buns, chin-chin, doughnut, noodles,
alcoholic beverages, protein-enriched pulp and canned foods.
Sweetpotato
grows best at a temperature of between 24oC and 28oC with
an annual rainfall of 700mm to 1000mm. It requires about 500mm of rain during
the period of vegetative growth and the rest during tuber formation and setting
(Woolfe, 1992; Onwueme and Sinha, 1991). It is also a drought tolerant crop.
However, drought that occurs within six weeks after planting or during tuber
formation reduces yield greatly. Sweetpotato does not tolerate shade. Day
length of 11 hours or less.....
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