By Nneka Nwogwugwu
The federal government has trained youths, women in the South West on the utilisation of the Orange-fleshed Sweet Potato (OFSP) into various products.
The training was conducted on Friday at the Root and Tuber Expansion Programme (RTEP), Ijebu-Ife, Ogun State.
Speaking during the training, the Director of the Federal Department of Agriculture, Hajia Karima Babangida, said that the ‘training of the trainers’ (ToT) workshop is centred on addressing the benefits of the utilization/value addition of Orange Fleshed Sweet Potato (OFSP) in Nigeria.
Babaginda said, “OFSP is readily available to be utilized and processed into various products.
“There are a lot of product development potentials from Orange Fleshed Sweet Potato needed to be brought to people’s awareness, from confectioneries such as chin-chin, cakes, breads, doughnuts, flour, sweeteners and juice among others.
“It’s very important to look in the direction of product development to create more jobs for our teeming youths as well as source of income generation for our women.”
Babaginda, who was represented by the Adeola Lordbanjou, the Programme Manager Root and Tuber Expansion Programme (RTEP), Ogun state, explained that OFSP has high beta carotene content which is a pre-cursor of Vitamin A that makes it adequate for food to boosts immune system of the elderly and helps in combating Vitamin A Deficiency (VAD) among children.
She said, “the purpose of this workshop is to bring together policy makers, young men and women with the aim of training them to become champions in the act of value addition and product development from OFSP.
“ It is also to encourage policy makers to support the promotion and utilization of the crop in areas of school feeding programme, food for the vulnerable and the internally displaced persons.
“This workshop will also expose the trainees to basic skills and knowledge about the crops flexibility in the area of utilization and value addition.”
Speaking during his keynote lecture, the Head of National Root Crops Research Institute, Umudike, Abia state, Solomon Afuape (PhD), explained that current challenges faced in getting economic benefits of OFSP is that awareness of OFSP is still low, adding that it requires investors to do a lot of promotion.
He advised that there is need for more improved OFSP varieties that combine consumers and processors food.
Afuape while explaining how one can set up OFSP business, informed that the target market should be identified before embarking on sales.
He said, “Identify the market to produce for, identify its standards and plan towards meeting its standards.”
He also added that farmers should take note of the sweet potato virus disease (SPVD), saying that it has no effective chemical cure.
“Fresh roots for storage and long haulage should be cured immediately after harvest.
“A pesticide like carat can control the weevil population,” he said.