Sweetpotato is often either a major food staple or complementary staple in Ugandan food systems. It also serves as a famine reserve crop and increasingly as an important source of case income. Nevertheless, sweetpotato has only recently begun to attract the attention of researchers and policy markers with much of that effort focused on production related issues. Using needs assessment survey methods, this study identifies constraints and opportunities in the current sweetpotato post-harvest systems in Uganda. It also reports on efforts to improve storage of fresh roots and analyses processing options. Commonly held dubious notions regarding sweetpotato marketing are briefly examined. This findings presented do not conform to widely held beliefs. Prospects for sweetpotato product development are explored using the examples of sweetpotato bread. This paper concludes that development of sweetpotato in Uganda will require more attention to post harvest systems and that post-harvest research would benefit from, among other things, capacity-building in the marketing and small agro-enterprise area.
Authors: Andrew Hall, Geoffrey Bockett, Silim Nahdy, Andrew Hall, Geoffrey Bockett, Silim Nahdy
Contributors: Karen Ayabei, Karen Ayabei
Subjects: Post-harvest handling
Pages: 99
Publisher: NRI
Publication Date: 1998
Keywords: Food security, Food systems, Post-harvest management, Product development, Uganda
HOW TO CITE
Hall, A., Bockett, G. and Nahdy, S. (1998). Sweetpotato post-harvest systems in Uganda: Strategies, constraints and potentials. Social science department working paper No. 1998-7. International Potato Centre (CIP). Lima, Peru.