Adoption of Sweet Potato Processing Technologies Introduced by the National Root Crops Research Institute in Anambra state, Nigeria
Creators: name: Mmeremikwu, I.A.
Publisher: name: gjrpublication
Year: 2023

description: The study assessed the adoption of sweet potato postharvest processing technologies introduced by the National Root Crops Research Institute (NRCRI) in Anambra State. Specifically, the identified the processors’ sources of information on sweet potato processing technologies, determined the sweet potato processors’ level of awareness and perception of sweet potato processing technologies, determined the sweet potato processors’ level of adoption of the recommended sweetpotato processing technologies, The population of the study was delimited to all sweet potato processors in Anambra State. Multi-stage sampling procedure was used in selecting one hundred and twenty (120) processors that were used for the study while data for the study were collected through primary source using a well-structured questionnaire and analyzed using frequency counts, percentage, and mean scores. The findings of the study revealed that the majority (74.17%) of the total sample size were females, a greater proportion (50.83%) were between the ages of 41 - 50 years while majority (52.50%) of the sweet potato processors are married. Majority (64.17%) had household size of between 6 – 10 people while the majority (70.00%) had between 1 – 10years of processing experience. The result revealed that the sweet potato processors sourced information on sweet potato processing technologies via the National Root Crop Research Institute , radio , social media platforms, fellow sweet potato processors, family and friends, television, advisory services consultants and newspaper .The findings on sweet potato processors’ level and extent of awareness of sweet potato processing technologies revealed that the sweet potato processors recorded high level of awareness in the following sweet potato processing technologies: boiled sweet potato eaten with red oil or sauce, processing of sweet potato root tubers as fried food , processing of sweet potato root tubers as porridge, processing sweet potato as roasted food, processing of unfermented sweet potato into flour), and processing of sweet potato into crisps . Meanwhile, the findings on the processors’ perception of the sweet potato processing technologies shows that the sweet potato processors strongly perceived the sweet potato processing technologies as improved processing technologies with health benefits, processing technologies that requires low cost, improved processing technologies with greater chances of employment opportunities, processing technologies that requires less stress, and processing technologies that is compatible with the peoples’ values . The findings of the study further revealed that the grand mean adoption score of processing of unfermented sweet potato flour was 4.65, while the adoption index of the processors was 0.93. On the adoption of processing sweet potato as roasted food, it was revealed that the grand mean adoption score of processing sweet potato as roasted food was 4.38, with adoption index score of 0.88. Whereas, the grand mean adoption score of processing sweet potato into fufu flour was 3.64, with adoption index value of 0.73. The result in addition, revealed that the grand mean adoption score of processing sweet potato into starch was 3.53, with adoption index value of 0.71. The grand mean adoption score of processing sweet potato leave as animal feed was 3.33, while the adoption index was 0.66. This implies that 66.0% of the processors were involved in the various adoption stages of processing sweet potato leaves as animal feed.