Sweet potato needs attention

Root and Tuber Liaison Officer at the Directorate of Crop Services, Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MOFA, George Prah, has proposed a swift policy intervention that will boost the capacity of farmers in the cultivation and production of sweet potato.

 

He told the B&FT in an exclusive interview that government must speedily outline a number of policy interventions that will be targeted at transforming the entire value chain of the food crop. 

Such an intervention, he said, must look at capital injection, a strategy to strengthen production techniques, research and extension as well as marketing and processing of the tuber for profitability among all stakeholders in the value-chain.

Sweet potato which has been identified as one of the key root and tuber crop, addresses malnutrition among children in the country with high content of Vitamin A.

“Sweet potato, apart from being one of the starchy staples, is a source of carbohydrates and the new ones we have developed is very rich in beta carotene- prerequisite for vitamin A which is very good for children eye sight, and nutrition,” he said.

Available statistics by the Ghana Health Service (GHS) 2012 indicate that 12,000 children in Ghana die every year of under- weight related ailments due to malnutrition. 

The statistics also indicate that under nutrition contributes to about half of all child deaths beyond early infancy and accounts for the death of one out of every thirteen children in the country who die before their fifth birthday.

Sweet potato a secondary crop because it complements the major root crops like cassava and yam and has many positive attribute such as production of more carbohydrate per unit area per unit.

Mr. Prah explained that four new varieties of sweet potato with vitamin A were developed and released in December 2012 by the Crop Research Institute, and in total there are about eight varieties of sweet potato in the country, which are rich in beta carotene.

Among some of the varieties released were Apomuden, Faara, Okumkom, Santompona, Sauti, Otoo (RTIP) Tek Santom (KNUST), Patron, Ligri, Dadanyuie and Bohye (WAAPP).

Sweet potato is the seventh most important food crop in the world; in developing countries, it ranks fifth in terms of economic value of production and among the tropical root crops, it is the second most important after cassava. 

In sub-Saharan Africa, where the crop is grown on some 13.37 million hectares of land, it is the third most important root crop after cassava and yam.

The largest producer in Africa is Tanzania, followed closely by Nigeria with production figures of about 3.6 and 3.3 million tonnes respectively.

Sweet potato improvement programmes in Ghana over the last decade have focused on providing varieties that were drought, pest and disease tolerant. 

Major growing areas

The Sweet Potato which is mainly cultivated in commercial quantities in all regions except the Western region is mainly planted in pure stands. In the northern sector; it is sometimes intercropped with yam or other crops. The crop is either planted in mounds or in ridges. 

It was estimated that a total of 9,622 hectares of sweet potato was cultivated during the 2012 cropping season. 

The Upper East region cultivated 5,550 hectares representing 57.7 percent of total area cropped while Upper West and Eastern regions cultivated 1,157 hectares (12.0 %) and 1,030 hectares (10.7 %) respectively.

In terms of output, an estimated total of 131,990 metric tons of sweet potatoes was produced. Out of the total production, Upper East region produced the highest of 46,000 metric tons presenting 34.9 percent; Eastern, 34,910 mt (26.4 %), Upper West, 19,530 mt (14.8) and Volta region, 15,340 mt (11.6 %). 

The district/municipal performance in terms of cropped area and production. It reveals that, sweet potato production is highly concentrated along the Afram River in the Kwahu East district of the Eastern region. It is estimated that, 934 hectares were cropped yielding about 33,000 metric tons.

Other major producing districts/municipals include; Bawku Municipal (12,500 mt), Wa Municipal (11,070 mt) and Akatsi district (7,700 mt). 

In 2009, a Root and Tuber Improvement and Marketing Programme (RTIMP) was implemented in about 26 District, Municipal and Metropolitan assemblies across the country especially in the Northern part of the country. 

The International Fund for Agricultural Development, (IFAD) in collaboration with the government also jointly sponsored the project to help enhance food security and increase the incomes of roots and tuber farmers thereby improving their livelihood development.