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Sweetpotato
is traditionally produced for food, eaten by the grower’s family or locally
marketed in an unprocessed form. In fact, sweetpotato is the main staple food
for many communities. For example, a 1986 survey in Rwanda found per capita
sweetpotato consumption in the north-central region to be over 300 kg/yr,
representing 40% of the food consumed, a lot higher than the national average of
about 150 kg/year. Earlier studies in PNG villages recorded adult consumption of
1.2-1.7 kg/d (approx. 400-600 kg/yr), contributing over 90% by weight of the
food consumed. Despite more recent availability of many imported foods, many PNG
highlanders still rely on sweetpotato for over half of their dietary energy and
over 30% of their protein intake. However, for other developing countries, per
capita consumption of sweetpotato in fresh form has declined over the years.
Studies in Asia and other developing countries show that access to imported,
cheaper and more preferred foods in recent times and the spread of urbanisation,
have reduced sweetpotato consumption.
Livestock
production has always been an important motivation for growing sweetpotato. Both
vines and storage roots can be used even without cooking. In PNG, pigs
raised on sweetpotato have traditionally been the main item of trade and a
measure of wealth, and may consume up to 60% of the crop harvested. In
China and Vietnam, sweetpotato vines and storage roots are also used as feeds
for pigs. Recent adoption of a silaging
system allows increased storage life and digestibility, while reducing demand
for labour and cooking fuel. A similar silaging system is used in the
Cañete Valley in Peru, where sweetpotato supports a modern dairy industry.
More
recently, efforts have been made towards industrial utilisation and
development of new sweetpotato products. Increasing volume is being
processed into industrial starch, alcohol, noodles and other products,
especially in China. In the Philippines, it is processed into starch and
exported to Korea where it is made into noodles or exported to Japan in fried
and frozen forms. Some bakeshops have also ventured into making cakes and
pastries from sweetpotato flour.
Contributors:
Vilma Amante and
Jane
O'Sullivan
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Origin
Botany
and morphology
Importance
Growing
environments
Nutritional
value
fresh
market Indonesia (E. Rasco, Jr.).
fresh
market PNG (E. Rasco,
Jr.).
chips
for food and feed (CIP).
cattle
feed Peru (E. Rasco, Jr.).
starch
cakes for noodles China (R. Lauzon).
cakes
and pastries Philippines (R. Lauzon).
fried
and frozen for export Philippines (E.
Rasco, Jr.).
chips
and other
snack
food PNG (V. Amante). |
