Preserving Sweet Potatoes

Africa Studies Quarterly reported that researchers in Zimbabwe had determined that:

Lack of suitable storage facilities among smallholder farmers continues to expose farmers to intermittent food shocks. Farmers are thus making use of locally available preservation methods, derived from indigenous knowledge systems (IKS), to improve storability of sweet potatoes

At the conclusion of their research they contended:

Image by NatalieMaynor via Flickr

The socio-economic value of indigenous knowledge cannot be under estimated. The results of this study point to soil banks as the most effective in terms of maintaining the quality of the stored crop and reducing water loss. However, use of grass and ash are also valuable methods but could be associated with loss in quality judging by the incidence of discolored tubers. If the best results were to be obtained, it would be recommended to use a combination of these preservation methods. This is because ash has some repellent properties to vices such as pests. There is need for further investigation to identify the effectiveness of these techniques across other varieties of the sweet potatoes and also under varying conditions.

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