Orange Fleshed Sweet Potatoes Nutritional Value Extolled

Orange Fleshed Sweet Potatoes (OFSP) has been described as highly nutritious and should be encouraged to be eaten by all and sundry across Nigeria.

This was the assertion of the Executive Director of Agriculture and Rural Management Training Institute (ARMTI), Ilorin, Dr Femi Oladunni at a 5-Day Stakeholders Forum titled “ORANGE-FLESHED SWEETPOTATO (OFSP) INDUSTRY FORUM FOR FARMERS, PROCESSORS, VALUE ADDITION SPECIALISTS AND OTHER STAKEHOLDERS FOR IMPROVED PRODUCTION AND CONSUMPTION IN NIGERIA”, which was organized by the institute in collaboration with OMAKONSULTS Nigeria Limited, held at the institute between 24th and 28th of May, 2021.

The forum which brought together forty (40) OFSP Stakeholders comprising of farmers, processors, marketers, nutritionists, among others were invited across the six Geo-Political Zones of Nigeria to discuss the success stories, challenges and way forward for the vitamin-A rich food crop.

The 5-Day forum was declared open by Dr. Olufemi Oladunni, flanked by his management team and the Chief Executive Officer of OMAKONSULTS Nigeria Limited, Pastor Jacob Olusegun Ogunleye. Dr. Oladunni welcomed the delegates to the forum and urged them to make useful contributions based on their experiences in their various engagements as stakeholders in OFSP, so as to further promote the highly nutritious crop and make it a household food item.

He also appraised the efforts ARMTI has played towards escalating OFSP since its introduction to Nigeria about a decade ago, having trained government agencies, private operators and NGOs in 34 states in Nigeria to adopt, plant, consume, market the farm produce.

Topic covered at the training include National Breeding/Seed Background and Potential, Concepts in Breeding/Seed Excellence, Strengthening Breeding and Seed System Linkages, Post-Harvest Preservation and Marketing Concepts, Export Potentials of OFSP and Next Step Towards a Nation Vision, including series of experience sharing sessions.

At the end of the Stakeholders Forum, delegates expressed their delights being selected to be part of the specialists invited for the programme, which has exposed them to new realities in the modern day Agricultural practices. They all promised to put the experiences acquired during the Stakeholders Forum to practice in order to boost production and consumption of OFSP in Nigeria.