Sweetpotato for food and health: R&D issues on production, food quality, processing and marketing in India
2002
Edison, S.
Sweetpotato is grown in India in 0.11 million hectares, with an annual production of 1.0 million tons and productivity of 8.8 t ha-1. The major constraints in the production and processing front for sweet potato in India are inconsistency in tuberization, seasonal instability in yield and lack of (i) weevil-resistant sweet potato varieties, (ii) adequate technological innovations on stable marketable food products , (iii) extension support and (iv) organised marketing structure. The Central Tuber Crops Research Institute maintains a large collection of germplasm of sweetpotato (873 Nos.), comprising Ca. 60 -carotene-rich accessions. The wide variability in nutritional and anti-nutritional characteristics has provided the base for the development of nutritionally enriched sweet potato varieties, Gouri, Sree Vardhini, Sree Rethna and Sree Bhadra. The major pests and diseases contributing to post harvest losses include sweet potato weevil (Cylas formicarius F.) and tuber rot caused by Lasiodiplodia theobromae, Rhizopus oryzae and Fusarium oxysporum. The Integrated Pest Management (IPM) package for the control of sweetpotato weevil involves a low cost synthetic sex pheromone as its main component. A new kairomone, Boehmeryl acetate, isolated from the periderm of sweet potato offers new promise in weevil management. Technologies for the production of intermediary food products like jam, sauce, soft drinks and pickles and stable food products like pre- gelatinised starch (batata shake) and maltose syrup have been perfected. A novel mobile starch extraction plant was developed for on-farm processing of harvested tubers. Sweetpotatoes are mainly used as vegetable and marketed by two channels, large wholesale market in urban areas and small-scale sales in rural areas. Farmers’ participatory research programmes have led to the selection of location specific varieties and to identify the farmers’ preferences of varieties and transfer to fellow farmers.
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