ACCEPTABILITY, PERCEIVED BENEFITS AND CONSTRAINTS OF HOME-MADE PLANTAIN WINE (AGADAGIDI)

Despite the nutritional advantages of indigenous wine from overripe plantain (agadagidi), like many other indigenous foods, it has suffered neglect and gradual extinction resulting in consumers’ preference for imported and industrial drinks. This study aimed at promoting home-made production of plantain wine for immediate consumption by rural households, thereby, enhancing their nutritional status. Three samples were used for the study namely: the wine produced from plantain, wine from banana and the commercial wine (the control). Proximate analysis was carried out on the plantain and banana wines while sensory evaluation was carried out on the three samples. The perceived benefits of plantain wine and the limitations to its acceptability were also investigated. Proximate analysis results show that banana wine contains lesser ash (0.18%) than plantain (0.32%), almost equal amount of fat (0.11%) with plantain (0.10), lesser crude protein (0.44%) than plantain (0.56%) and lesser carbohydrate (0.22%) than plantain (3.79%). At p≤ 0.05, there was no significant difference in the overall acceptability of plantain and banana wines produced whereas, a significant difference exists between the commercial wine and the two wines produced. Commercial wine has the highest acceptability (mean =7.5) followed by plantain wine (mean = 6.1) while banana wine has the least acceptability (mean = 5.3). The majority (83.3%) of the respondents favourably perceived the health benefits of plantain/banana wines and several constraints limiting their acceptability were identified. It was concluded that plantain/banana wine was unable to compete with commercial wine in terms of consumer acceptability despite the various perceived benefits. It was recommended that the processing technique for the production of plantain/banana wine be disseminated to rural households to enhance their nutrient intake and prevent the extinction of the drink.