Perception of the Nutritive and Socio-Economic Values of Sweetpotato among Rural Dwellers in Oyun Local Government Area of Kwara State

ODEBODE, S. O., O. J. AROWOBUSOYE and I. N. EGEONU, 2006. Perception of the nutritive and socio-economic values of sweetpotato among rural dwellers in Oyun local government area of Kwara State. Bulg. J. Agric. Sci., 12: 571-580 This study investigated rural dwellers' perception of the nutritive and socio-economic values of sweetpotato in Oyun Local Government Area of Kwara State. A total of 120 out of 860 registered sweetpotato producers in the community were randomly selected and interviewed. Inferential and descriptive statistics were used to analyze and describe the data. The results obtained showed that about 60% of the respondents were males while 40% were females. Ages ranged between 10-50 years, and most have primary or secondary education. Processing methods employed include boiling, frying, roasting, pounding and flour making. The production constraints encountered include lack of technical contact with extension agents (11.0%), lack of credit facilities (18.0%), pest and diseases (2.0%), taste of sweetpotato (12.0%) and cultural taboos (2.0%). There were no significant relationships between Religion Marital Status, and Perception (X 2 =3.738 and 2.064; P>0.05) respectively. Also, there were no significant relationships between the Constraints, Age and Perception of Sweetpotato (r= -0.291, P =0.01, r=0.084, P=0.01). There was a significant relationship between Educational level, Level, Sex, Occupation, Cultural Uses and Perception (X 2 =13.863, X 2 = 8.244, X 2 = 37.803, X 2 = 28.683, at P> 0.05) respectively. It can be concluded that the respondents derive nutritional benefits from the consumption of sweetpotato. Income was also generated from the production of sweetpotato while savings were made from products sold. All these benefits increased the socio-economic status of the respondents. Improvement in production and enhancement of total yield of sweetpotato is therefore recom