Abstract
This study aimed at understanding users' demand for raw and boiled plantains in rural and urban areas in West and Littoral regions of Cameroon. Surveys conducted in eight rural localities consisted of key informant interviews, gender-disaggregated focus group discussions, market and individual interviews. Processing and cooking diagnoses were done with restaurant cooks in urban areas, to know the details of plantain processing and boiling and to understand the quality characteristics of raw plantain that give a most-liked boiled plantain. Local favourite landraces, most cultivated landraces in Cameroon (Batard and Big ebanga) and a new CARBAP/CIRAD hybrid (CARBAP K74) were used. The preference for plantain cultivars was both gender and region-dependent. High-quality plantain should be mature, with big fingers and having a dark green peel colour. The fruit length and girth, pulp pH, dry matter content and firmness were found to be relevant postharvest quality characteristics for plantain breeding improvement.
Highlights
Musa spp., including plantain, banana and cooking banana, is a major fruit group in the world
Surveys conducted in eight rural localities consisted of key informant interviews, gender-disaggregated focus group discussions, market and individual interviews
Processing and cooking diagnoses were done with restaurant cooks in urban areas, to know the details of plantain processing and boiling, and to understand the quality characteristics of raw plantain that give a most-liked boiled plantain
Summary
Musa spp., including plantain, banana and cooking banana, is a major fruit group in the world. In Cameroon, over eleven food uses of plantains and cooking bananas which depend on cultivar and consumption habits were reported (Ngoh Newilah et al, 2005, 2018). When boiled, they are either eaten as a main dish with liquid sauces, vegetables, legumes, or as an accompaniment to other foods like rice or pasta in order to increase the consistency of the meal. Fliedel et al (2016) developed a new approach aimed at providing information on selection criteria for quality traits to breeders early in varietal improvement programmes It involved successive steps including: qualitative surveys along the food chain to identify quality criteria of a good cassava crop and product, and effective participation of processors to identify the suitability of new genotypes for a good product. The objectives of this study were to use this methodology to identify factors and characteristics that influence cultivar and food product preferences across the food chain for raw and boiled plantain, including growers, processors and consumers
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