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Phase: Ideas Missions: Storage and Processing

Utilsation of Sweet potatoes using appropriate Post-harvest and Processing Techniques

Enhance the shelf life of sweet potatoes using preservation and processing techniques which would maintain the nutritional value of products

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EXPLAIN YOUR IDEA

The Zero Energy Cooling Chamber (ZECC) will be used to enhance and maintain the shelf-life of potatoes as a preservation method while in value addition, sweet potatoes will be processed in yoghurt to maintain the nutritional value.

WHO BENEFITS?

Farmers, marketers, processors and consumers.

WHERE WILL YOUR IDEA BE IMPLEMENTED?

Implementation will be in parts of Ghana where sweet potato is commonly grown/produce

ARE YOU IMPLEMENTING IN AN ELIGIBLE COUNTRY?

  • Yes

EXPERTISE IN SECTOR

  • I’ve worked in a sector related to my idea for over a year

EXPERIENCE IN IMPLEMENTATION COUNTRY(IES)

  • Yes, for more than one year.

TELL US MORE ABOUT YOU!

I am Linda Dari, a Lecturer and Food and Post-harvest Engineer working with the University for Development Studies Tamale Ghana. I work with small scale farmers in the three Northern Regions of Ghana known for been poor and has a higher malnutrition rate especially among women and children.

Sweet potatoes are grown for the utilization of the roots and leaves as vegetables.  Sweet potato mostly the orange and purple fleshed have recommended for consumption by women and children to supplement nutritional requirement especially vitamin A and carotenoid which are often lacking in other food products.

Sweet potatoes, however have a short shelf-life with adequate storage and needs special storage methods to maintain and enhance the shelf-life.

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Spam
Photo of Brent Saulic
Team

It seems like your starting a conversation about a new food manufacturing process, which "sweet potatoes will be processed in yogurt to maintain the nutritional value" sounds very interesting.  Could you elaborate some about why you think this method would work?  How much longer does yogurt last typically? What makes you think that the potato's vitamics would be retained longer in suspended yogurt. Would it taste good?  Would it be technically feasibly to do something like this in Ghana in a rural rural area, or would it be more of a factory urban thing? 

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Spam
Photo of Linda
Team

Hello Brent,

Thank you for your thoughts, the intent of this work is to use the ZECC to preserve the sweet potatoes which would give farmers a better price with reduced losses for further handling to the cities for processing into Yoghurt as a value addition. Sweet potato (orange and purple) yoghurt taste great, has more vitamins than regular yoghurt and is free from colourants and flavours.
In a nut shell, this project will help reduce losses at the farmgate with a better market price for farmers, it would also bring more actors (transporters, processors, consumers) along the chain which would result in safe and enhanced yoghurt for consumers.

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