Orange Flesh Sweet Potatoes (Ipomea batatas) Consumption for Food Diversification and Nutritional Security of Cocoa Producers’ Population in Nawa Region, Côte d’Ivoire

Abstract

Cocoa producers’ communities are affected by malnutrition due to lake of food diversification. To initiate food diversification program with orange sweet potatoes, households eating habits and staple food composition have been evaluated. An assessment of 91 households’ food habits was carried out in 5 localities of Nawa region (Cote d’Ivoire). Anthropometric measurements were performed for children among 6 and 59 months. Dry matter, total sugars, proteins and minerals were determined for the usual staple food and orange sweet potatoes. The results showed that households’ food diversity score is 5.2, indicating that diet is less diversified. The major staple food are yams (36.7%), rice (29.6%) and cassava (17.4%). Sweet potatoes are more cultivated and consumed by native immigrant from the North of Cote d’Ivoire. Children nutritional status revealed that global acute malnutrition prevalence is 6.4% (95% Confidence Interval (CI): 3.0, 13.1%), chronic malnutrition prevalence is about 54.3% (95% CI: 44.2, 64.1%) and underweight prevalence is 31.9% (95% CI: 23.4, 41.9%). The staple food nutrients analyses revealed that rice has the most proteins content 5.0%. Orange flesh sweet potatoes have high content in total sugars (78.2 g/100g dry matter (DM)), zinc (3.3 mg/100g DM), magnesium (27.6 mg/100g DM), potassium (558.0 mg/100g DM) and calcium (388.5 mg/100g DM). Yam contains more potassium (730.8 mg/100g DM) and cassava more iron (18.2 mg/100g DM). Orange sweet potatoes which are cultivated by a few producers contain high level of micronutrients. They could be therefore recommended for culture and food diversification and contribute to overcome children malnutrition.