Acceptability and prospects of integrating sweet potato into dietary habits: Insights from Eritrea

• Published date: 01 November 2024
• Author: Tesfai Tsegai Kidane,Kibrom T. Sibhatu
• Date: 01 November 2024
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1002/wfp2.12075

RESEARCH ARTICLE

Acceptability and prospects of integrating sweet

potato into dietary habits: Insights from Eritrea

Tesfai Tsegai Kidane

1

| Kibrom T. Sibhatu

2,3

1

Planning and Statistics Division,

Ministry of Agriculture, Asmara, Eritrea

2

International Center of Insect

Physiology & Ecology (icipe), Nairobi,

Kenya

3

Department of Agricultural Economics

and Rural Development, University of

Goettingen, Goettingen, Germany

Correspondence

Kibrom Sibhatu, International Center of Insect

Physiology & Ecology (icipe), Nairobi, Kenya

Email: ksibhat@uni-goettingen.de and

ksibhatu@icipe.org

Funding information

The authors received no financial support for

this article’s research, authorship, and/or

publication.

Abstract

Popularity of yellow-fleshed sweet potato is rising due

to its versatility, nutritional richness, and environmen-

tal advantages, particularly in countries across sub-

Saharan Africa and the Sahel region. Many countries

in the region have made efforts to incorporate vitamin

A varieties of sweet potato into their farming systems

and diets. However, research on the acceptability of

sweet potato dishes in these regions is limited. This

study aims to fill this gap by providing empirical evi-

dence on acceptability of sweet potato dishes and the

comparative preferences of consumers for different

value-added sweet potato-based meals using sensory

analyses of 13 dishes and 55 panelists in Eritrea. We

find a significant acceptance level, with a mean score

of 4.21 out of 5. Certain products, such as low-added

sugar biscuits (mean score of 4.70 out of 5), low-added

sugar jams (4.56 out of 5), bread (4.59 out of 5), chips

(4.56 out of 5), and stew (4.38 out of 5), have emerged

as favorites, offering opportunities for agribusiness and

household adoption. These findings suggest promising

potential for integrating sweet potatoes into diets across

these regions. However, the current lack of demand is

might be due to inadequate investment in promotions,

until a critical mass of adopters is reached.

Received: 19 October 2023 Revised: 24 March 2024 Accepted: 25 March 2024

DOI: 10.1002/wfp2.12075

This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distrib ution and

reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

© 2024 The Author(s). World Food Policy published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of Policy Studie s Organization.

World Food Policy. 2024;10:169–179. wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/wfp2 169