DIAGNOSTIC OF THE CURRENT LIVELIHOOD EVOLUTION, FARMING PRACTICES, PRODUCTION CONSTRAINTS, POST-HARVEST PROCESSING, TRADING AND VALUE-CHAIN SYSTEMS OF SWEETPOTATO IN NORTH-KIVU PROVINCE, EASTERN OF DRCONGO

Abstract

Although in many countries of Sub-Sahara Africa, sweet potato has been found to be very important for food security for farmers who depended on it for their livelihood, little documentation on the production constraints, preferences for sweetpotato genotypes by farmers, pre- and post-harvest handling and value chain issues were available for North-Kivu province. Hence, a survey assessment was conducted (March-December 2021) in major sweetpotato growing territories in North-Kivu province. Data was collected through field visits, semistructured interviews, focus group discussions and field observations after structured questionnaire have been administered to farmers. Descriptive statistics were applied to analyze the data. The results indicated that sweetpotato is grown by rural households for food and cash, and women play a major role in cultivating the crop. The crop was cultivated on small plots, mainly in upland areas, during the rainy season and sometimes in valley bottoms during dry season. Most farmers provide their own planting materials or obtained vines free from neighbours. Vines were usually planted on mounds. Ridges were used in highland areas in lieu of mounds as a way to control soil erosion/land slide impacts. Sweetpotato is commonly solecropped, although it is occasionally intercropped with beans, maize, banana, and other crops. Key attributes for maintenance of varieties were access to healthy planting material availability and distribution, tolerance abiotic stresses, resistance to biotic stresses, good taste and high root yield , early maturity, cookability, low perishability during storage. Piecemeal harvesting was common except when larger quantities are harvested for sale. During the harvest period, people consume sweetpotatoes every day and sometimes for every meal. Peeling & boiling or steaming is the most common method of preparation. Pests and diseases were reported to be associated with severe and high yield loss although incidence of pests and diseases were of high seasonal variations. The overall identified factors constraining productivity included shortage of land and planting materials, landrace low yield, some variety high sensitivity to weeds, diseases and insect pests aggressions, inaccessibility to financial credits. Post-harvest and value chain constraints included: high labour and transport costs, poor access to markets & low market prices, inaccessibility to improved varieties, a lack of knowledge on processing and equipment, packaging, marketing and transportation problems, inadequate extension services and postharvest losses. Farmers indicated that flood and landslide/soil erosion were serious abiotic stresses. The result showed that age, education level of household head, land and household sizes, input costs, livestock ownership, access to market information and to financial credit or extension services, output and sales revenue may have a significant impact on outcome and affect household gross margin. Thus, enhancing farmers’ access to market information, boosting the production and productivity of the crop through better extension services and infrastructures, awareness creation on gender balanced market engagement and improvement in transportation facilities are the critical points that should get policy attentions in the study area. Results of this study can serve as a baseline reference for strategic breeding and other interventions to develop sweetpotato varieties according to the needs of the farmers.